Within weeks, the Australian government is expected to approve the country’s first private orbital rocket launch, joining just a handful of space-faring nations that have done the same.
Gilmour Space, which has developed the new rocket, announced this week that the Australian Space Agency (ASA) has granted it approval to operate the Bowen Orbital Spaceport in North Queensland, Australia. The company has also set a goal of having Australian astronauts in orbit, launched from Australia, by the end of this decade.
Its Eris Block 1 rocket is 25 metres tall, weighs 36 tonnes and is designed to carry a payload of over 300 kilograms into an orbit 500 kilometres above Earth. The ASA is now working to provide a permit for the vehicle’s first launch.
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at Gilmour says he expects the first test launch will attempt to deploy a satellite as soon as April or early May. The company then aims to have its first commercial payload in space by early 2025 and hopes to have up to 10 launches per year within two to three years.
“We really want to put Australian astronauts in space from Australian rockets, and we are looking to do that by the end of the decade,” says Doyle.
Launching the Eris Block 1 three-stage rocket from the new spaceport is an extremely “ambitious and bold” decision, says at Griffith University in Queensland, since most companies would first attempt a single-stage rocket launch.
“But in space you either be bold or you go home,” says de Souza. “It’s incredible that they have put all this infrastructure together in such a short time.”
Australia does have a number of private spaceports elsewhere in the country, including in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory and in South Australia, but the new facility at Bowen is the first to have approval to operate for private orbital launches, rather than suborbital ones.
Only one orbital flight from Australia has ever been attempted, when the UK used the Woomera Rocket Range in South Australia to launch its Black Arrow rocket into low Earth orbit in 1971 – the last ever flight of the vehicle.
De Souza says Bowen has many advantages as a spaceport. It is close to the equator, giving rockets a boost from Earth’s rotation. It is also right next to the vast Pacific Ocean, which means there is almost no infrastructure or population centres that could be impacted in the event of a failed launch, and this allows for launches into a wide array of orbital angles. Finally, the location isn’t prone to constant storms and bad weather.
“Most of the year, the skies are clear at Bowen,” says de Souza. “If this company is successful, then the access to space will become a reality for Australians.”
