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Gilmour’s rocket finally lifted off on Wednesday morning before crashing seemingly metres from the launch pad.
Eris flew for 14 seconds, but founder Adam Gilmour hailed the blast off as a success and a “huge step forward for the company”.
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Eris is a three-stage orbital vehicle and the first to be almost entirely Australian-designed and manufactured. Despite the explosion, the test marked the first orbital blast-off attempt in 50 years from Australian soil. You can watch a video of the launch below.
“Space is hard,” said Gilmour. “SpaceX, Rocket Lab and others needed multiple test flights to reach orbit. We’ve learned a tremendous amount that will go directly into improving our next vehicle, which is already in production.
“Getting off the pad and into flight is a huge step forward for any new rocket program. This was the first real test of our rocket systems, our propulsion technology, and our spaceport — and it proved that much of what we’ve built works.
“Only six nations currently launch to orbit regularly — and just a handful are developing sovereign capability to join them. We’ve now taken a big step toward joining that group.”
The company later confirmed there were no injuries from the crash and also believed there were no adverse environmental impacts from the blast off. Gilmour previously warned the initial launch was likely to end in failure and admitted that a flight time of 20 or 30 seconds would be “fantastic”.
“Initial data confirms that key systems performed well until the anomaly, including ignition, liftoff, first-stage thrust, range tracking and telemetry,” said the company.
“The team is now reviewing flight data to understand the cause of the anomaly that led to early termination, with lessons already being applied to the next vehicle, which is in production.”
The attempt on Wednesday was during the fourth formal launch window that opened this year, with other tries being mostly cancelled due to bad weather. Gilmour had initially hoped to blast off Eris in April last year.
Despite its own launch trouble, the company blasted off its first satellite bus, ElaraSat, on SpaceX’s Transporter 14 rideshare mission in June.
While engineers were initially warned that it could take up to four days to establish contact with ElaraSat, they eventually received the all-clear within eight hours.
“The fact that we can put it up in a space successfully and test it will be a big milestone for the company,” Gilmour said.
