Gilmour Space Technologies launch window for Eris rocket from May 15 in Bowen

An Aussie icon is one step closer to space travel as the first ever Australian-built rocket is just days away from its launch window.

James and Adam Gilmour, the co-foudners of Queensland start-up Gilmour Space

An Aussie icon is one step closer to space travel as the first ever Australian-built rocket could be just days away from being launched out of Bowen.

The payload of this debut unmanned flight – a jar of vegemite – but Gilmour Space Technologies warned there was no guarantee the unmanned rocket would even achieve lift off during the maiden test run.

“It could be an all day affair, it could be a five day affair. It could be a two week affair,” Gilmour Space marketing and communications manager Michelle Gilmour, who is married to company co-founder Adam Gilmour, said.

“We don’t know, it’s the first vehicle of its type.”

The Gold Coast based company confirmed it had received airspace management approval from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority and were just waiting on the green light from the Australian Space Agency with a launch window from May 15.

Keeping in theme, the announcement about the maiden test flight of the Eris rocket was made on May 4.

Mrs Gilmour said this day had been a long time coming with the design and development beginning six years go. This first launch has already been pushed back from 2022.

Eris TestFlight1 will be the first Australian-made rocket capable of going into orbit and carry satellites, and the country’s first orbital launch in more than 50 years.

Mrs Gilmour said there were only about six or seven other countries launching their own rockets “so we should be one of only a very few number of nations that are capable or getting our own satellites to space”.

Gilmour Space Technologies crew including Michelle Gilmour at the front. Picture: Supplied by Gilmour Space Technologies

“There’s a huge shortage of launch vehicles all around the world … even though you hear a lot of news on SpaceX and Rocket Lab launching every other day, the reality is that there are two year long wait lists for launching satellites to space. And there’s just not enough rockets,” she said.

Mrs Gilmour said this would be the first time she had watched a rocket launch, but because of the unpredictable nature of first maiden runs spectators were not encouraged for TestFlight1.

“Rocket tech is really hard … it’s been done by so few nations and the technology itself is confidential, a secret,” she said.
“So we’ve basically developed almost every system that’s on the rocket ourselves.

“That kind of propulsion system is not easy to develop. We have a hybrid rocket engine, which is a new kind of rocket engine … so it’s already a different rocket technology that we’ll be testing.”

Mrs Gilmour said there were four hybrid rocket engines that would be firing off “as soon as we hit zero in the countdown”.

One of the biggest risks, she said, was whether they would all fire consistently and at the same time. “So that’s the first test,” she said.

“Then we’ll be testing all our avionics systems … the guidance, navigation and control of the rocket … the technology is developed by us,” she said.

“And the vehicle itself, the structure, is it going to withstand all the forces of launch.”

Gilmour Space Technologies has set a date for the launch of its Eris rocket from a space station near the northern Queensland town of Bowen. Picture: Supplied/Gilmour Space Technologies.,

The rocket’s nose cone, which will be holding the jar of Vegemite, could reach 2000 degrees Celsius, she said.

Mrs Gilmour said it was very common for first launches not to be immediately successful.

“So SpaceX, who is like leading the market today, they made it on their fourth launch attempt. And same with Rocket Lab. And every almost every other rocket company in the world, the first launch is not very unlikely to get to orbit,” she said.

The weather could also impact when the test launch would occur.

But once Eris was successfully launched into orbit Mrs Gilmour said the possibilities just open up, for both Australia’s space industry and also Bowen’s tourism industry.

She said there were even talks about tourists being able to watch a rocket launch from a Bowen beach within a year or two.

If the launch was successful Mrs Gilmour said it should be seen from many of the beaches around Bowen including Coral, Grays and Queens Beaches, Lions and Ethel Barker Parks, Yasso Point, Watertank Murals and Flagstaff Hill.

There will also be land and sea exclusion zones in place. More information about these can be found here.