The 1st Australian rocket to launch from Australian soil could reach orbit next month
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.
Australian company Gilmour Space has announced the launch window for its first-ever orbital launch attempt.
Gilmour Space announced on Feb. 24 that it is targeting a launch no earlier than March 15 from its own Bowen Orbital Spaceport in northern Queensland, following approval from Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA). The company secured its launch license for what is designated TestFlight1 late last year.
"This will be the first attempt of an Australian rocket to reach orbit from Australian soil," Adam Gilmour, co-founder and CEO of Gilmour Space, said in a statement.
Eris is the first Australian-designed and built rocket aiming for orbit. It stands at 82 feet (25 meters) tall and can deliver a payload of up to 474 pounds (215 kilograms) to a 310-mile-altitude (500 kilometers) sun-synchronous orbit. Eris consists of three stages and uses hybrid propulsion.
Gilmour, however, noted that the company may face hurdles including weather conditions, technical issues, or other factors that could lead to scrubs or delays and the team works towards the launch. "Safety is always the top priority. We'll only launch when we're ready, and when conditions are appropriate," he said.
He also tempered expectations by stating that a first launch is the hardest, noting also that private rocket companies very rarely successfully launch to orbit at the first attempt, adding that SpaceX only achieved this feat on its fourth effort.
RELATED STORIES:
— Australian company Gilmour Space gets country's 1st orbital launch license
— UK approves 1st vertical rocket launch from Saxavord Spaceport
— There was nearly 1 rocket launch attempt every 34 hours in 2024 — this year will be even busier
"Whether we make it off the pad, reach max Q, or get all the way to space, what's important is that every second of flight will deliver valuable data that will improve our rocket's reliability and performance for future launches," Gilmour said.
Gilmour Space was kicked off its rocket program in 2015 and currently has more than 200 employees.
The company is backed by private investors including Blackbird, Main Sequence, Fine Structure Ventures, Queensland Investment Corporation, and superannuation funds like HESTA, Hostplus, and NGS Super. It also builds satellite platforms and aims to lower the cost of access to space.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
43 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Economist's jumbo $128 RBA interest rate prediction in weeks: 'No need to wait'
A top economist has called on the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to deliver a jumbo cash rate cut in July. Economic growth has been weak, and Australian consumers are continuing to be 'cautious' with their spending, leading to an "agonisingly gradual recovery" in the private sector economy. EQ managing director Warren Hogan has called on the central bank to 'act decisively' at its next meeting and make an 'uncharacteristic' 35 basis point rate cut. This is bigger than the standard 25 basis point cut mortgage holders received in February and May. 'At this stage, the RBA seems to think a neutral cash rate is about 3.5 per cent. There is no reason to wait,' Hogan, who has previously been a cautious voice about rate relief, wrote in an opinion piece for the Australian Financial Review. RELATED Australian dollar rebounds in 'unusual' sign for RBA ahead of interest rates decision Major Coles move to take on Chemist Warehouse, Bunnings, Amazon Centrelink payment change happening next week: 'Will increase' A 35 basis point cut would lower repayments on the average $600,000 home loan with 25 years remaining by $128 per month. That would be a saving of an extra $37 a month, compared to a standard 25 basis point cut. Economist and Yahoo Finance contributor Stephen Koukoulas has also called for a supersized interest rate cut at the RBA's next meeting. He said the RBA needs to "aggressively" move the cash rate to a neutral, or accommodative, position. 'We do need to see the RBA cutting 50 [basis points] at the July meeting, playing a bit of catch up for its errors previously, getting the cash rate down to 3.35 per cent and giving the economy a chance to get a breather, to grow a bit,' he said. A neutral rate is one that is neither stimulatory nor contractionary. There is no set definition for what it is, but it is thought to be in the low 3 per cent region. The Australian economy grew just 0.2 per cent in the March quarter and 1.3 per cent in annual terms. Koukoulas warned that the longer it takes to get the cash rate to a neutral level, the 'worse the economy will be'. 'It needs to get there sooner rather than later, otherwise 2026 is going to be a really tough year for the economy,' he said. Hogan said that despite a boost to real disposable incomes, Australian consumers were 'unwilling to loosen the purse strings in a meaningful way', preferring to save rather than spend their extra income. "The household saving ratio jumped above 5 per cent, back to what was normal prior to the pandemic. It could go higher, particularly as the government seeks to tax superannuation incomes at a higher rate in the future," he said. Businesses are also slowing the pace of capital deployment and experiencing a squeeze on profits from cost growth, but are unable to pass this on to customers. 'Either businesses start passing on costs, and we get higher inflation, or business profits continue to be squeezed, and profits soon contract,' Hogan warned. 'Business will retrench their investment plans; many businesses will fail. This risks an entrenched stagnation, hauntingly similar to Japan's economy of the 21st century.' Financial markets expect the RBA will deliver another three 25 basis point cuts to the cash rate in 2025, taking it to 3.10 per cent by the end of the in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Albo urged to go hard on Trump
Anthony Albanese should play hardball with the US on beef as tariff talks grind on, Nationals leader David Littleproud says. American beef imports have emerged as a key negotiating item in the Albanese government's efforts to secure a tariff carve out. The Trump administration has been pushing for Australia to loosen import rules to include beef from cattle originating in Canada and Mexico but slaughtered in the US. The Prime Minister has confirmed biosecurity officials were reviewing the request but vowed his government would not 'compromise' Australia's strict bio laws. But the prospect of changing laws has sparked unease among cattle farmers worried about keeping bovine diseases well away from the country's shores. With beef imports seemingly key to securing a US tariff exemption, Mr Littleproud on Monday said there needed to be some 'perspective'. 'The United States does need Australia and other countries to import beef to be able to put on their hamburgers,' he told Sky News. 'They don't have the production capacity to be able to produce the type of beef that goes on their hamburgers. 'So this is a tax on themselves that they put on Australian beef.' Despite being subject to the blanket 10 per cent tariffs on foreign imports, Australian beef into the US has risen by 32 per cent this year, according to Meat and Livestock Australia. Meanwhile, the cost of domestically produced beef within the US has been climbing, as cattle farmers struggle with drought. Mr Littleproud said the Nationals were not against importing American beef provided that it was from cattle 'born in the United States and bred all the way through to their slaughter in the United States'. But beef from cattle originating in third countries was a risk because 'we don't have the traceability that we have over the US production system'. 'And that's why Anthony Albanese needed to rule out straight away that he would not open that up to those cattle that were born in Canada, Mexico, or anywhere else in the Americas, because that poses a significant risk unless we can trace those cattle,' Mr Littleproud said. Mr Albanese has been clear in saying he would 'never loosen any rules regarding our biosecurity'. But he has also said that if a deal can be struck 'in a way that protects our biosecurity, of course we don't just say no'. Mr Littleproud acknowledged Mr Albanese's words but said 'when you see reports from departments saying this is what's on the table in terms of negotiations – where there's smoke, there's fire'. In addition to the baseline 10 per cent duties on foreign goods, Australia has also been subjected to 50 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminium. Only the UK has been able to secure a partial exemption from the Donald Trump's tariffs. A key UK concession was scrapping its 20 per cent imposts on American beef and raising the import quota to 13,000 metric tonnes. But with many British goods still subject to tariffs, analysts have questioned whether the deal was worth it. The US has trade surpluses with both the UK and Australia. Though, Australia also has a free-trade agreement with the US, meaning goods should be traded mostly uninhibited. The Albanese government has repeatedly criticised Mr Trump's decision to slap tariffs on Australian products as 'economic self-harm' and 'not the act of a friend'.
CNBC
3 hours ago
- CNBC
Asian markets set to open higher as investors await Beijing-Washington trade meeting and China data
China Shenzhen Real444 | E+ | Getty Images Asian markets were set to climb Monday as investors awaited trade talks between the U.S. and China later in the day, following accusations between the two over breaching deal terms agreed in Geneva last month. Trade tensions are seemingly easing as China has reportedly granted temporary approvals for the export of rare earths, while jetliner Boeing Co has begun commercial jet deliveries to the Asian superpower. China is also slated to release a slew of data, including its consumer and wholesale inflation readings for May. Economists polled by Reuters expect consumer prices to have fallen by 0.2% year on year, while PPI is forecast to have declined by 3.2% from a year earlier.. Futures for Hong Kong's Hang Seng index stood at 23,801 pointing to a marginally higher open compared to the HSI's last close of 23,792.54. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 was set to open higher, with the futures contract in Chicago at 37,975 while its counterpart in Osaka last traded at 37,980, against the index's Friday close of 37,741.61. Australian markets are closed for a public holiday. U.S. equity futures were mostly flat in early Asian trade. All three key benchmarks on Wall Street jumped last Friday, after the non-farm payrolls data came in better-than-expected. U.S. payrolls climbed 139,000 in May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, above the Dow Jones forecast of 125,000 for the month but less than the downwardly revised 147,000 in April. The Dow Jones Industrial Average popped 443.13 points, or 1.05%, to close at 42,762.87. The blue-chip index was up more than 600 points at its highs of the session. Meanwhile, the the broad-based S&P 500 also gained 1.03% — surpassing the 6,000 level for the first time since late February — and settling at 6,000.36, while the Nasdaq Composite rallied 1.20%, to end at 19,529.95. — CNBC's Sean Conlon and Jesse Pound contributed to this report.
