Gilmour Space targets two new rocket flights after historic Bowen launch
Three months after making history in North Queensland, Gilmour Space reveals what comes next.
Three months on from Bowen’s historic rocket launch the team behind the test flight are preparing for the next stage and looking to the future.
Gilmour Space Technologies made history with its Eris TestFlight 1 launching from Bowen Orbital Spaceport in July, with the rocket briefly leaving the ground.
At the time co-founder and CEO of Gilmour Space, Adam Gilmour, said he was “happy about it”, especially considering the rocket had been sitting ready for a year and a half.
“We had all four engines fire off nicely, we avoided the pad, the rocket is off the pad now and no visible damage to the pad,” he said.
“We’ve learned a tremendous amount that will go directly into improving our next vehicle, which is already in production.
“Getting off the pad and into flight is a huge step forward for any new rocket program. This was the first real test of our rocket systems, our propulsion technology, and our spaceport — and it proved that much of what we’ve built works.
“Clearing the tower was a major milestone for our team. It showed that Australia can design, build, and launch rockets right here at home.”
Over the past three months the team have been conducting a still ongoing launch anomaly investigation to find out exactly what went wrong, and right.
Marketing and communications manager at Gilmour Space Technologies Michelle Gilmour said they would share updates on what they found when that process was complete.
“We’re currently targeting two test flights in 2026, a hypersonic flight test and Eris TestFlight 2,” she said.
She said the Gilmour Space team was keeping very busy, continuing to design, test and build future launch vehicles and spacecraft platforms at both their Bowen and Gold Coast Facilities, and they were on the look out for people who were keen to be a part of Australia’s ever growing space industry to join them.
She noted their ElaraSat MMS-1 satellite bus remained “healthy and operational in orbit”, and said a second satellite launch was planned for 2026.
Mr Gilmour previously noted there was potential to develop a new form of tourism in the Whitsundays thanks to its involvement with the space industry.
“Bowen is fantastic to go and watch, you can go to some hills and look directly down on the launch site,” he said.
“I definitely think it could be Australia’s Cape Canaveral”, he said, referring to the US’s most famous rocket launch site.
