Aerospace composite manufacturer Airspeed has successfully completed its first captive carry flight test of a supersonic target prototype onboard its Marchetti S211 R&D platform (pictured). The company, based at Mawson Lakes, Adelaide recently celebrated the project milestone, in a major step towards strengthening Australia’s sovereign aerospace capability. The customised prototype – known as Irukandji –…
Equatorial Launch Australia (ELA) has shocked the space sector, announcing it will immediately cease operations of the Arnhem Space Centre in the Northern Territory and relocate the spaceport to a new site in Queensland. The decision was forced by the inability of the company to finalise a lease for the expansion of the Arnhem Space…
Southern Launch has been granted all approvals for the Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex located on the tip of the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, with work on permanent facilities to be ready for the first launches from the site scheduled for late 2025. Southern Launch CEO Lloyd Damp said: “Access to space is critical…
Canadian rocket manufacturer Reaction Dynamics has signed a contract with Southern Launch to conduct the inaugural launch and flight of their RE-102 hybrid rocket engine and Aurora vehicle from the Koonibba Test Range in outback South Australia in 2025. The Aurora suborbital mission will serve as the maiden flight qualification test for Reaction Dynamics’ rocket…
French rocket company Sirius Space Services has signed a contract with Equatorial Launch Australia (ELA) for a multi-year, multi-launch campaign from the Arnhem Space Centre (ASC) at the World Space Business Week conference in Paris, France overnight. The agreement will see Sirius become a ‘Resident Launcher’ at the spaceport from 2025, taking up residency at…
The federal government is to back construction of a rocket motor manufacturing facility designed to support Australia’s developing capabilities in guided weapons and missile manufacturing. The federal government today called for options from industry to establish a manufacturing complex for what it called a ‘sovereign rocket motor programme’ to make rocket motors, backed by an…
Hypersonic vehicles could be launched as early as 2025 following the signing of a MoU between South Australian spaceport provider Southern Launch and Queensland hypersonic vehicle and scramjet technology manufacturer Hypersonix Launch Systems. Under the MoU, Hypersonix and Southern Launch will work together to develop a mission to launch and return Hypersonix’s test bed vehicles…
Lockheed Martin Australia and Thales Australia have signed a Teaming Agreement which could lead to the development and production of Solid Rocket Motors (SRM) for the Australian market. The purpose of the agreement is to collaborate, qualify and produce Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) Solid Rocket Motors and other components in support of the…
Space launch services company Gilmour Space Technologies is launching a new suborbital flight test service aimed at commercial and defence customers testing vehicles at hypersonic speeds above Mach 5 – more than five times the speed of sound. The Director of Launch Vehicles and Satellites at Gilmour Space David Doyle said: “We’ve witnessed a surge…
Space launch services provider Southern Launch has announced that South Korean rocket manufacturer UNASTELLA Corporation will launch from Australia after signing an agreement in Seoul. UNASTELLA is aiming to develop a small lift rocket based off proven South Korean technologies, and plans at least four launches a year. The company’s orbit capable rocket and the…