Gold Coast company plans to launch rockets into space from 2018 as space race arrives

TO infinity and beyond! The space race has come to the Gold Coast with one company planning to launch a rocket into orbit as early as next year.

THE space race has come to the Gold Coast with one company planning to launch a rocket into orbit as early as next year.

That’s right, from the Gold Coast.

GOLD COAST COMPANY AIMS FOR STARS AT PIMPAMA

The city’s north will become a launch pad for small satellites and scientific research as Gilmour

Space Technologies moves to establish a foothold in the final frontier.

They want to send a small rocket into orbit late next year, to put small satellites in space for research.

James and Adam Gilmour with a prototype rocket. Picture Mike Batterham

The Pimpama company already has received $5 million for the project and if successful hopes to launch larger and more powerful rockets by 2020.

ROCKET TEST SUCCESSFUL

And it’s just the first step, with the company’s founders — brothers Adam and James Gilmour — planning to build human-piloted craft for space exploration.

James Gilmour told the Bulletin aerospace was a growing industry for the Gold Coast after injecting more than $600 million into the state’s economy each year.

James Gilmour. Picture Mike Batterham

“My grandmother always said I would be a star but I think she meant that we would get to the stars, and we are planning for a dedicated launch facility for initially small payloads and then for bigger stuff later on,” he said.

“In terms of private enterprise this will be a first.

SPACE PARK PLANNED FOR PIMPAMA

“No doubt there is a long road in front of us but if you want to go far, you have to go together and talk from NASA was pretty favourable.”

Gilmour Space Technologies, founded on the Gold Coast in 2013, launched a prototype rocket from Pimpama in mid-2016 and founded the Gold Coast Space Academy tourist attraction.

The Gilmour brothers met with NASA officials. It could be one small step from their rockets to exploring space.

Gold Coast Combined Chamber of Commerce President Martin Brady. Picture Glenn Hampson

Investors Blackbird Ventures from Australia and Silicon Valley-based venture capital 500 Startups have given the $5 million for the latest project.

The brothers late last year flew to the US and met with NASA engineers at the Houston and Kennedy space centres to showcase the technology.

It has 20 engineers working on the project between Australia and Singapore, with more expected to be brought on next year ahead of the first launch.

Adam Gilmour said the Gold Coast was in a position to capitalise on a shortage of available rocket infrastructure and companies capable of firing them into space, especially in the small satellite market.

Adam Gilmour. Picture Mike Batterham

A recent Allied Market Research report found the small satellite industry would be worth $9.7 billion worldwide by 2022.

“Unfortunately, what is severely lacking is the means of getting these innovations to where they need to be, and that’s where we come in — to meet the growing demand for more affordable and reliable transportation to space,” Mr Gilmour said.

“You also have to deal with the high launch costs of around $40-80,000 per kilogram, multi-year waiting lists and the vagaries of being a secondary payload.”

The Gilmours also founded the Gold Coast Space Academy at Pimpama. Picture by Scott Fletcher

The State Government last year launched its Advance Queensland plan. It includes the goal of making aerospace one of our leading industries by 2026.

The sector generates more than $1.3 billion into Queensland each year, employs more than 4500 people and is expected to continue growing at a rate of around 2 per cent annually to 2021.

Gold Coast Combined Chamber of Commerce president Martin Brady said the increasing diversification of the city’s economy to include a booming aerospace field would “flow-on effects for other innovative industries”.

“We are known for tourism and construction, it is clear we have a number of companies who are now batting on the world stage,” he said.

“Diversification of the economy is important and this just goes to show what is possible here on the Gold Coast as well as the potential for future innovations at the health and knowledge precinct.

WHAT ARE THE ROCKETS?

* The rockets are hybrid-engine craft which use 3D-printed fuel.

* They will be able to take small satellites and payloads of below 500kg in weight.

* The Ariel rockets, due for launch in 2018, can take a 130kg payload at a cost of around $9000/kg up to 150km to suborbital range.

* The three-stage Eris rocket, due to launch in 2020, can carry up to 370kg into orbit at a cost of $40-80,000.