Gilmour Space finally gets a launch permit for the maiden flight

Australian Space Agency has granted a launch permit to Gilmour Space Technologies to fly the maiden flight of the Eris rocket from Bown Orbital Spaceport in north Queensland.

In March, Gilmour received a license for its Bown facility. In the following month, the company opened this facility and made the Eris rocket vertical on the launch pad. It’s been months since the rocket maker was waiting for the first flight approval.

A launch permit is necessary under the Space (Launche & Returns) Act 2018 to launch a rocket from Australia to an altitude of over 100 kilometers. That being said, the rocket company also needs to fulfill certain conditions before liftoff and 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 Gilmour Space CEO, and co-founder, Adam Gilmour.

The company has already completed a wet dress rehearsal for the Eris rocket in September and tested all ground systems for this maiden mission. This will be the first test flight and there are more missions planned to make progress and improve the rocket’s design.

Gilmour Space Bown Orbital Spaceport in North Queensland (Image Credit: Gilmour Space)

License

Getting a license is now standing as one of the most difficult parts of Gilmour’s journey to orbit. The founders did not expect the license to take more than half a year.

“I honestly thought the environmental approval would take the longest, and we got that well over a year ago,” said Adam Gilmour.

With this launch permit, Gilmour Space chief is confident that his company will launch test flight 1 by the end of the 30-day launch period with all preparations.

Eris rocket

This is a 25-meter tall rocket capable of delivering 305kg payload to low earth orbit. The rocket has three stages and the payload fairing is 1.5 meters in diameter.

(source)