Queenslanders could be flying to space without leaving their state within 10 years, a Gold Coast rocket company predicts after a successful test launch.
Rocket engineers at Gilmour Space Technologies in Queensland, Australia, have completed the first in a series of major technology demonstrations this year: a successful 45-second 'hot fire' of their upper-stage hybrid rocket engine.
CEO and founder, Adam Gilmour, said the result of 45 seconds in the test, at an undisclosed location, was triple their original attempt and a huge milestone for the company.
"The issue with burning for a long time is that is gets very hot — 3,000 degrees Celsius inside that rocket chamber," former banker, Mr Gilmour said.
"So you need to have materials that heat for long periods of time and that's what the big test was about."
Goal to take people into space, like SpaceX
The role of the upper stage engine is to put satellites into the right orbit, a feat that will eventually require 110 seconds of engine propulsion.
"The upper stage engine is tricky because it has to be a well-performing engine and a stable burn, otherwise you go all over the place in space," Mr Gilmour said.
"Here in Queensland we are developing space technology that is real and will get us there."
The Gilmour Space Technologies co-founder said he and his development team wanted to take people into space, just like US SpaceX founder, Elon Musk.
But Mr Gilmour added that Mr Musk was handed $2.6 billion by NASA ($3.7 billion) to achieve his recent goal of sending two astronauts to the International Space Station.
"We haven't got any money from the space agency, but we are confident our technology will work, we just need the funding," he said.
Mr Gilmour said he made no secret of the fact that he wanted to travel to space within 10 years, and he wanted to do that from a launch site in Queensland.
"There's no reason why we can't launch people into space from Queensland," he said.
"If we are launching satellites we can launch people."
Suitable launch location
The Queensland Government has been working on a suitable launch location and hasn't yet made an announcement.
In a recent article published on the Central Queensland University (CQU) website, Professor and Deputy Dean of Research Steven Moore said a regional rocket hub was being developed with support from the State Government, commercial businesses, and CQU's Mackay campus.
"One of the biggest gaps Australia has in the space industry in comparison to the US is not having a commercial launch facility," Dr Moore said.
"We have been working with Regional Development Australia, the Whitsunday, Mackay and Isaac Regional Councils, the Department of State Development, Tourism and Innovation and Gold-Coast based rocket manufacturer Gilmour Space on Launch Whitsunday — a commercial satellite launch complex in the Abbot Point State Development Area near Bowen."
The academic said if the proposal goes ahead, different satellite and rocket companies from around Australia and the world will be able to utilise the facility.
