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The Australian Space Agency has finally granted Gilmour the licence it needs to launch its Eris rocket in a historic moment for the local industry.
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The business, which had hoped to blast off for the first time in April, said it would announce a fresh lift-off date “in the coming weeks”.
Gilmour Space Technologies has been developing its three-stage launch vehicle for eight years and hopes to address a gap in the global market for small satellite launch providers.
Gilmour was granted the licence, an Australian first, by Science Minister Ed Husic under the Space (Launches & Returns) Act 2018. A number of conditions need to be met, though, before a potential blast-off, including a mandatory 30-day notification period.
“With this green light, we will soon attempt the first orbital test flight of an Australian-made rocket from Australian soil,” said the firm’s founder, Adam Gilmour.
It comes after Gilmour’s Bowen Orbital Spaceport in North Queensland was granted its own separate licence to operate in March, and the company completed a wet dress rehearsal in September.
“Since starting its rocket program in 2015, Gilmour Space has expanded to over 200 employees, built a local supply chain of more than 300 Australian companies, attracted significant private investment, gained support from local, state and federal governments, and actively engaged communities across the region,” Gilmour said in a statement.
The news of the permit’s granting brings to an end the drawn-out saga, which at one point saw founder Adam Gilmour argue the Australian Space Agency was to blame for the delay.
Earlier this year, he argued the pushback was “more them than us” and even suggested that officials were concerned that its Eris launch vehicle could hit a passing ship.
“Like, what if a cruise ship comes out of Hawaii and goes in the path of the rocket as it’s going up [from the North Queensland coast]? And how are we not going to hit the International Space Station?” he said of their apparent questions.
Talking at the AFR’s Entrepreneur Summit, Gilmour added that his engineers were spending too much time answering questions from regulators rather than designing the next rocket.
“Regulation definitely kills innovation. The government is extremely risk-averse, even in the power market. People are talking about clean energy, but it takes two years to get a wind turbine approved or 18 months to get a solar farm approved.
“It’s taken us almost two years to get our first rocket launch approved. That is crazy.”
The announcement comes a day after rival spaceport Southern Launch announced its Whalers Way spaceport had been granted the crucial approval it need to become a permanent launch facility.
The site on the tip of the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia intends to specialise in orbital blast-offs but has previously used a temporary launchpad after gaining what was effectively interim authorisation for test launches.
However, in the last week, the firm received the go-ahead from both South Australia’s minister of planning and the Commonwealth’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.
Australia is currently home to four spaceports in total, with Equatorial Launch Australia using its Arnhem Space Centre in the Northern Territory.
A fifth, Space Centre Australia, is planned for far north Queensland and recently appointed former prime minister Scott Morrison as its new chairman.
