SYDNEY: An Australian aerospace firm said Thursday it has delayed a historic first attempt to launch a locally developed rocket into orbit, citing a ground system glitch.
\nGilmour Space Technologies had planned for a first test launch of its three-stage Eris rocket on Thursday but had to postpone until the next day.
\n\u201cThe issue was with an external power system we use during system checks,\u201d communications chief Michelle Gilmour told AFP.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve identified the fix but ran out of time to implement it and fuel the rocket within today\u2019s launch window.\u201d
\nThe next window for launch is Friday.
\nThe rocket is set to fly from a spaceport near the east coast township of Bowen, about 1,000 kilometers up from the Queensland capital Brisbane.
\nIf successful, it would be the first Australian-made rocket to make an orbital launch from Australian soil.
\nThe 23-meter vehicle is designed to launch small satellites into low-Earth orbit but on the first launch it will carry a jar of Vegemite \u2014 a popular Australian toast topping.
\nChief executive Adam Gilmour said the firm is not expecting things to go smoothly on the first test.
\nIf it orbits Earth \u201cI would probably have a heart attack, actually, because I\u2019ll be so surprised, but deliriously happy,\u201d Gilmour told AFP this week.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re going to be happy if it gets off the pad \u2014 10, 20, 30 seconds of flight time: fantastic. So orbit is just not in the realm of my belief right now, even though it\u2019s theoretically possible.\u201d
\nThe rocket design is for a capacity of 100-200 kilogrammes , with further upgrades being developed.
\nWeighing 30 tons fully fueled, it has a hybrid propulsion system, using a solid inert fuel and a liquid oxidiser, which provides the oxygen for it to burn, Gilmour said.
\nGilmour Space Technologies is backed by private investors including venture capital group Blackbird and pension fund HESTA.
\nThe company, which has 230 employees, hopes to start commercial launches in late 2026 or early 2027, Gilmour said, and then to rapidly grow revenues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SYDNEY: An Australian aerospace firm said Thursday it has delayed a historic first attempt to launch a locally developed rocket into orbit, citing a ground system glitch. Gilmour Space Technologies had planned for a first test launch of its three-stage Eris rocket on Thursday but had to postpone until the next day. \u201cThe issue was …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":81029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81006"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81006\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81033,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81006\/revisions\/81033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}