An Australian-designed and manufactured rocket made its historic first launch from home soil on July 30 morning, though it crashed shortly after lift-off.
The Gilmour Space orbital rocket, named Eris, took off from a spaceport in Bowen, north Queensland, and remained airborne for less than a minute.
“Today, Eris became the first #AustralianMade orbital rocket to launch from Australian soil—~14 seconds of flight, 23 seconds of engine burn. Big step for launch capability,” the Gold Coast-based company shared on X.
Launch Footage and Technical Challenges
As per the live video posted by “Aussienaut,” an Australian space enthusiast platform, showed the rocket lift off but then hover briefly before sliding off the pad.“It slid straight off the pad.”
Co-founder Adam Gilmour said prior to launch that being able to lift off would be a success. The rocket had undergone extensive pre-launch checks.
He acknowledged the difficulty of private rocket launches, saying, “It’s almost unheard of for a private company to launch a rocket ship to orbit the first time around.”
Gilmour Space Technologies had received Australian government backing for its Bowen project, including $5 million for the Eris launch vehicle, announced just last week.
The launch had been postponed before.
Founded eight years ago by former investment banker Gilmour and his brother James, the venture-backed company aims to offer affordable satellite launch services.
He said creating Eris was a monumental challenge.
For the rocket to be successful it needed to reach orbital velocity of 7.9 kilometres per second, endure extreme forces and temperatures, and be able to adjust its flight path.
