Australia’s Attempt To Join The Space Race Lasts Just 14 Seconds
Australia’s attempt to return to space lasted just 14 seconds, after a Wednesday launch barely made it off the ground.
The launch attempt was made by local company Gilmour Space, which readers may remember for scrubbing the launch of its Eris-1 rocket when its fairing fell off deep into the countdown for a May launch attempt.
The company fixed the electrical fault that caused the fairing to fall, returned the rocket to its launch pad and waited for a fine day on which to launch.
That day dawned on July 30th, when at around 08:30 the Eris 1’s engines ignited and burned for 23 seconds, 14 of which saw the craft lift into the air.
Then it crashed, hit the ground, and blew up.
“Got off the Pad, I am happy,” wrote Gilmour Space CEO Adam Gilmour. “Of course I would have liked more flight time but happy with this.”
On X, Gilmour Space celebrated the brief flight.
“Big step for [Australian] launch capability. Team safe, data in hand, eyes on TestFlight 2,” the company Xeeted.
YouTuber “Aussienaut” captured the launch in the video below.
Eris-1 is a three-stage rocked Gilmour Space designed to lift a 215kg payload to 500km equatorial orbits. The company built the rocket and the ‘”Sirius” engine that in test firings produced 110 kN of thrust. Wednesday’s brief flight suggests not all of the four engines in Eris-1’s first stage performed optimally.
Australia does not possess sovereign launch capacity, although the nation did host the UK’s last homegrown launch – 1971’s Black Arrow mission.
Nobody down under is upset about the mission’s failure.
“Congratulations to the Gilmour team on today’s achievement,” said Enrico Palermo, the head of the Australian Space Agency. “It is rare for first launches to reach orbit. That is part of the innovation cycle and why you test. We look forward to the next phases of the test program.”
Minister for Industry and Innovation, and for Science, Tim Ayres said “The confidence gained, and lessons learned will advance Gilmour and the space ecosystem. They can now build off this and continue to innovate – driving new opportunities that will help our economy to grow and create more high-paying, skilled jobs.”
And perhaps one day also deliver Australia the capacity to launch its own payloads without relying on partner nations or commercial launch companies.
That Gilmour today made Australia’s first attempt to reach space contrasts strongly with India’s space program, which on Wednesday intends to conduct the 16th launch of the home-grown Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, this time carrying an Earth observation satellite named NISAR that India’s space agency developed in collaboration with NASA. ®
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