Gilmour Space Technologies launch window for its TestFlight1 mission to launch their first Australian-built Eris orbital rocket opened today.
The Eris orbital rocket will launch from the Gilmour-owned and operated Bowen Orbital Spaceport, located at Abbot Point, just north of the Queensland coastal town of Bowen.
‘The test flight will be the first launch of an orbital rocket from Australian soil in 50 years, and the first ever orbital launch of a rocket entirely designed and manufactured in Australia,’ according to James Riley at InnovationAus.com.
The launch window will remain open until Sunday and launch will be dependent on weather conditions including wind speed with Gilmour saying that mission scrubs are normal.
Gilmour has said that the launch will not be livestreamed but they will share footage as soon as possible after the launch.
Adam Gilmour, co-founder and CEO of Gilmour Space explained that, ‘the first launch is always the hardest. Reaching orbit is a highly complex engineering challenge, and every successful rocket company has faced setbacks in their early attempts – SpaceX, for one, did it on their fourth attempt.
‘It’s almost unheard of for a private rocket company to launch successfully to orbit the first time. 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.’
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