Inside the countdown to Australia’s first homegrown rocket launch

In 2018, Gilmour Space Technologies developed the world’s largest single-port hybrid rocket engine. Now, the Queensland-based space technology company is preparing to launch Eris – the first Australian-made rocket – into orbit.

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Tau.Neutrino said:

Inside the countdown to Australia’s first homegrown rocket launch

In 2018, Gilmour Space Technologies developed the world’s largest single-port hybrid rocket engine. Now, the Queensland-based space technology company is preparing to launch Eris – the first Australian-made rocket – into orbit.

more…

Bloody marvellous.

Australia already has the record for the largest amateur rocket ever launched. I was present at the time. It was huge, a large as this thing. But it didn’t fly very high. And was made of plywood, fibreglass and Styrofoam. And it was single stage.

“In 2018, Gilmour Space Technologies developed the world’s largest single-port hybrid rocket engine. Now, the Queensland-based space technology company is preparing to launch Eris – the first Australian-made rocket – into orbit. “

“three stage”

“While the first and second stages of Eris will be powered by Gilmour Space’s lower-cost hybrid rocket engine, the company’s newly-created liquid rocket engine, Phoenix, will kick into gear in the third.”

Some of Australia’s amateur rockets have been hybrid. Much fewer have been liquid fuelled, I don’t know of any.

““We are building a second vehicle pretty close behind the first one, as we want the ability to recycle pretty quickly.”

That’s been a problem with Australian space flight in the past. No follow up plan. Great to see they have a plan for a series of rockets, not just one.

“The first Eris rocket was designed as a technology demonstrator for launching small satellites, roughly 100 kg, into lower earth orbits (LEO).

But it is expected that much of Gilmour Space’s technology will be translated into its larger vehicles, with work already begun on a new rocket – Eris Block 2. More fitting for customer demands, this vehicle could be Gilmour Space’s bread and butter.

“Block 2 can take 1,000 kilograms up, so you can a lot of satellites up at a time,” said Gilmour. “We’re also working on a booster stage for Eris Block 2, so you can take payloads to the moon.”

:-)

Good to see that they’re finally getting their shit together. I worked there from about mid 2017 to early 2018 and I didn’t think they’d get this far.
I guess they figured out that doing it on the cheap by hiring kids straight from uni wasn’t really cost effective.

Did you know instead of saying blast off we say crikey when ignition starts

Cymek said:

Did you know instead of saying blast off we say crikey when ignition starts

‘…3…2…1…BUGGER OFF!’

Any of you remember the old Ausroc program?

dv said:

Any of you remember the old Ausroc program?

No but I met people who did the bluestreak rocket program.

Spiny Norman said:

Good to see that they’re finally getting their shit together. I worked there from about mid 2017 to early 2018 and I didn’t think they’d get this far.
I guess they figured out that doing it on the cheap by hiring kids straight from uni wasn’t really cost effective.

they were using hydrogen peroxide – right ?

hybrid is the way to go

safer storage – the fuel and oxidiser can be stored safely

in normal hybrids the fuel is a rubbery substance, the oxidiser is N2O (though the average joe could create N2O2 and store it at 1 bar relatively safely – N2 is kept under pressure meaning a heavy tank – though its plumbing is less complicated.

as time has gone by ive changed my mind about rockets – a rocket plane would be simpler – no complicated gymball system for take off and a glide back to earth, the satellite/ payload could be launched from the rocket plane at height meaning that the nozzle could have a nozzle optimised for near vacuum conditions.

another good mission would be rocket plane to the moon

rocket plane takes off (maybe something like dynosoar) goes into orbit, picks up a large tank (connects to the tank like the rocket stage its just dumped) and flies to the moon, orbits the moon, drops survey equipment down to the surface, maybe a lunar lander could be in the cargo bay? flies back to earth. it dumps the empty stage in orbit then picks up another tank to slow the rocket plane down to manageable .speeds (no special heat tiles that always seem to break).

you aren’t dumping expensive hardware like apollo did. you don’t have to negotiate dangerous manoeuvres to connect a dedicated lander to the dynosoar (its already in the cargo bay – the crew just enter via the closed cargo bay)

in the future a nuclear powered dynosaur rocket plane just uses water (steam to drive it to the moon). non toxic. the tank in orbit is purely a fuel tank that can refilled

wookiemeister said:

hybrid is the way to go

safer storage – the fuel and oxidiser can be stored safely

in normal hybrids the fuel is a rubbery substance, the oxidiser is N2O (though the average joe could create N2O2 and store it at 1 bar relatively safely – N2 is kept under pressure meaning a heavy tank – though its plumbing is less complicated.

as time has gone by ive changed my mind about rockets – a rocket plane would be simpler – no complicated gymball system for take off and a glide back to earth, the satellite/ payload could be launched from the rocket plane at height meaning that the nozzle could have a nozzle optimised for near vacuum conditions.

gimbal

i like the y in it

its always made me wonder if the borg had the right idea and just used the cube to travel around it