Gold Coast’s first suborbital rocket successfully launched

A TEAM of three engineers worked for seven months on a machine worth $250,000 but at lift-off, the Gold Coast’s first commercially built suborbital rocket only flew for a mere 90 seconds.

GOLD Coast, we have lift-off!

A team of three engineers working at a former strawberry farm at Pimpama have successfully launched a prototype of a commercial suborbital rocket.

The $250,000 “reusable ascent separation article” named RASTA blasted off from Westmar, five hours west of the Coast on Friday, July 22 and flew for just 90 seconds to a height of 4-5km.

The team believes the test flight proves they will be able to build the best and cheapest suborbital rockets on the market within 18 months.

Adam Gilmour at the Gilmore Space Technologies. Photo: Scott Fletcher

For 42-year-old Adam Gilmour, the success of the Yatala-built machine was the realisation of a lifelong goal and the first major step in establishing a successful rocket building company on the Gold Coast.

“We’ve got one that will go to about 30km altitude which is full on edge of space — you can’t get that high in any aircraft and that will be launching in about three months,” he said.

“This one was a precursor to that.

James Gilmore and brother Adam Gilmour at the Gilmore Space Corporation's space academy at Pimpama. Photo: Mike Batterham

“We were making sure we were doing the right things and everything was working fine.

“They can be used for a whole number of things — you can do hypersonics research with them, you can do in-space equipment testing with them for much, much cheaper than a standard rocket that goes into orbit.”

The launch came only weeks after Mr Gilmour announced he would open the region’s first space museum and academy which he will run in conjunction with his rocket building business, after quitting his job as a banker in Singapore last year.

Mr Gilmour said his team had learnt a lot from the test, having aborted his first attempt two weeks earlier.

James Gilmore and brother Adam Gilmour at the Gilmore Space Corporation's space academy at Pimpama. Picture Mike Batterham

“We took too long to put everything together and missed our launch window,” he said.

“We were five minutes too late. They (Civil Aviation Safety Authority) only give out half-hour windows.”