Australia set to make history with first-ever homegrown rocket launch after explosive delays
After nose-cone failures, high-altitude winds, and months of delays, Australia's first entirely homegrown rocket is finally ready to blast off—carrying national pride, a jar of Vegemite, and the hopes of a rising space power
Tired of too many ads?
Remove Ads
Second chance
Tired of too many ads?
Remove Ads
What's on board?
The first Australian-made, Australian-launched rocket is set for takeoff in just a week. Gilmour Space Technologies , a privately-owned aerospace company based on Australia's Gold Coast, has confirmed it is targeting July 1–3 for the launch of the first entirely Australian-made and launched orbital rocket.The 25-metre tall, three-stage rocket called Eris will lift off from the Bowen Orbital Spaceport , about 150 kilometres southeast of Townsville.'We have done a full test again of the vehicle just to be safe,' said CEO Adam Gilmour , who has personally led the project through years of challenges. 'I'm kind of almost sick of this rocket,' he admitted to 7News, reflecting the fatigue and emotional strain after repeated delays.This will be Gilmour's second attempt to reach orbit. The first launch was aborted in May after the rocket's nose cone, a part that protects the payload during flight, accidentally opened just 30 minutes before takeoff. Before that, other technical glitches had halted progress.Upper-level winds are the biggest environmental challenge now facing the 25-metre, three-stage Eris rocket.Still, the team didn't give up. Engineers worked around the clock, retesting the rocket systems and addressing vulnerabilities. Now, all eyes are on the weather, particularly upper-level winds, which recently delayed a SpaceX rocket carrying a Gilmour-designed satellite.'That launch was delayed three days because of upper-level winds, and we're seeing the same high winds here as well,' Gilmour said.Unlike major international launches, this one isn't carrying a commercial payload. Instead, a small camera and a jar of Vegemite, Australia's iconic yeast spread, will ride into space as a lighthearted symbol of national pride.With this launch, Gilmour Space aims to become a reliable, sovereign launch provider, eventually sending satellites for environmental monitoring, communications, and even defense purposes.Founded in 2013 by Adam and his brother James Gilmour, the company has grown into one of the most promising players in the global space industry. The team behind Eris comprises more than 200 employees, supported by 300 local suppliers, investors, and the Australian Space Agency , which provided final launch approval in May.With this mission, Australia could join a small elite club of countries capable of launching rockets to orbit from their soil.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
11 minutes ago
- Time of India
Starlink suffers rare global outage, disrupting internet access worldwide; Elon Musk apologizes
For thousands of people around the world, the internet simply stopped working on Thursday(July 24), not because of local infrastructure issues or weather, but because Starlink , the satellite internet service operated by Elon Musk 's SpaceX, suffered a rare, global outage. "Starlink is currently in a network outage and we are actively implementing a solution," the company said in a brief statement posted to X (formerly Twitter) around 4 pm ET. Explore courses from Top Institutes in Please select course: Select a Course Category others Management Healthcare Project Management Product Management Public Policy MBA Data Science Design Thinking Others Artificial Intelligence Operations Management Digital Marketing Degree Technology Finance MCA CXO PGDM Data Science Cybersecurity healthcare Leadership Data Analytics Skills you'll gain: Duration: 16 Weeks Indian School of Business CERT - ISB Cybersecurity for Leaders Program India Starts on undefined Get Details Elon Musk followed up with a personal apology, writing, 'Service will be restored shortly. SpaceX will remedy the root cause to ensure it doesn't happen again.' by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Play War Thunder now for free War Thunder Play Now Undo The outage began at approximately 3:13 pm ET, and according to Doug Madory, Director of Internet Analysis at Kentik, Starlink's network experienced what he called a 'total outage.' 'They're not carrying any traffic right now,' Madory told Reuters. 'This level of disruption is very unusual for Starlink; they haven't had anything this widespread in a long time.' Live Events Downdetector, a website that tracks internet service issues based on user reports, showed over 60,000 complaints globally by late afternoon. Timing of the outage The outage occurred just one day after T-Mobile rolled out its new Starlink-powered 'T-Satellite' service, designed to enable phones to connect directly to satellites in areas with no traditional signal. While SpaceX hasn't linked the outage to the rollout, the timing has drawn scrutiny. Starlink did not immediately respond to requests for further comment. As of Thursday evening, some services appeared to be returning online in parts of the US and Europe, but full restoration may take time. With more than 7,600 satellites in orbit and millions of users in over 70 countries, Starlink is one of the largest satellite internet providers in the world.
Time of India
3 hours ago
- Time of India
India moves to shield power grid from solar equipment malware
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel India issued guidelines to protect solar power equipment from potential cyberattacks, responding to industry concerns that imported China-made parts may be putting the grid at of inverters - devices that turn direct current into electricity for homes and the grid - will need to connect the machines to a national software platform, hosted on servers in India and managed by a government agency, according to the renewable energy ministry. All communication devices connected to the inverters must use special SIM cards that let machines securely share data without human input, it said in a note on its power grids become more automated and digitally connected, they face growing cybersecurity threats, prompting governments worldwide to tighten safeguards. Reuters reported in May that the US is reassessing the risk posed by Chinese-made inverters after unexplained communication equipment was found inside some of them."Inverter communication modules that transmit data to servers outside India not only pose risks of unauthorised control but also threaten national energy sovereignty by exposing sensitive consumption and generation data," the Indian ministry directions currently apply to rooftop solar inverters - considered the most vulnerable part of the green power supply network due to limited technological safeguards. Data from these devices also reach to suppliers, many based in China, according to India Smart Grid Forum, which advises the government on building new-age power currently has 1.8 million rooftop solar units connected to the grid, ISGF said in a May report. More than 80% of the inverters installed at these units are made by Chinese companies, it said, highlighting the cybersecurity nation plans to cover 10 million houses, with a cumulative capacity of 30 gigawatts by March 2027, according to the ministry.
New Indian Express
5 hours ago
- New Indian Express
Tesla's entry and why manufacturing scene is not quite electric for India
US automaker Tesla's entry into India last week is an unpleasant reminder about how India keeps missing the manufacturing bus, again and again. This time, we've lost the race to produce and consume Electric Vehicles (EV), yet again, to China and the US. What makes the loss even more agonising is that, like China, India too started its EV journey pretty much at the same time around 2015. A decade later, or what now seems like between sundown and sunrise, China emerged as the leading EV market. Its conveyor belts simply seem unstoppable, while India stands still. Consider some more enviable statistics. China's annual EV sales rose from just 2,344 units in 2015 to a staggering 1.7 million in 2024. Over 50% of new cars sold were electric models in 2024 and it currently has over 41.3 million EVs on road. As many as 300 companies are manufacturing EVs there and four of the world's top 10 EVs sold worldwide are from China. In contrast, India has just a handful of producers. Total registered EVs stood at about 2 million as on 2024, accounting for 7.5% of India's total vehicle sales. But electric two-wheelers lead the pack, comprising 60% of total EV sales. The good news is India is expected to have an estimated 50 million EVs on the road by 2030, but then, China would have scaled another unbeatable milestone by then. In short, India is still warming up to the idea of large-scale EV adoption, while China is out to get another bite of meat, this time from global markets as it moves to the next stage of the consumption value chain. One of the reasons for such aggressive adoption of China-made EVs is the significant state-sponsored subsidies for consumers, and the availability of adequate charging infrastructure. India lacks both the charging infrastructure and suitable incentives. What's concerning now is how Beijing is flooding the global markets with its low-priced electric cars. China has subsidised EVs since 2009, but those incentives were phased out officially in 2022. Market watchers, however, believe that Beijing is artificially keeping prices low, as local governments are continuing to offer cash subsidies. Take for instance, the pricing of China's MG Motors and BYD, which are on par with Indian models, notwithstanding the high import tariffs of about 70%-100%. This has been the case with other markets too, which is why, the European Union recently opened an anti-subsidy investigation against China to know if it's gaming the pricing structure with unofficial state-sponsored incentives. Now, in this backdrop, the one thing that's upsetting about Tesla's much-awaited India foray is its seemingly half-hearted interest to tap India, touted to emerge as the world's third largest auto market. Moreover, the US automaker is grappling with excess capacity and declining sales, while China's BYD is at a threatening distance of dethroning Tesla as the world's largest EV maker. Given the circumstances, a large growing market like India offer a promising opportunity, but Tesla isn't as excited. Its India foray was low key and marked by the absence of its celebrated founder Elon Musk. This is quite different from other large MNCs like Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Google, which saw the respective billionaire bosses descending down on India to script history. Besides, Tesla's limited number of model launches and their pricing at over Rs 60 lakh each also makes its India journey uninspiring. Currently, Tesla imports fully assembled vehicles into India, which are subject to import duties as high as 70% to 100% if the car's cost, insurance, freight value exceeds $35,000. That said, India does offer attractive tariff rates of just 15% for willing companies under its EV policy launched last year. But to avail these lower tariffs, companies have to invest at least half-a-billion dollars in local production. The policy also sets a three-year timeline to set up manufacturing facilities and starting commercial production, with a goal of achieving 50% domestic value addition within five years. Besides, to ensure the progress of domestic manufacturing ecosystem, the government also opened another lifeline via its Production-Linked Incentive scheme, encouraging foreign auto companies to localise production. Then there's the other flagship scheme Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME), which too offers the much needed impetus to EV sales with state governments chipping in. It's not that India lacks the scale and strategic depth to emerge as a global leader in the automotive value chain. In 2022, India overtook Germany to emerge as the world's fourth largest automotive market and is set to reach a record 50 lakh units in the next few years. The automobile market contributes nearly 7% to the GDP, and the EV market in India is expected to touch $48.6 billion, creating 50 million direct and indirect jobs. But one reason that's deterring potential buyers and therefore prospective manufacturers is that fast-charging solutions remain scarce. Currently, India has only one public charging station per 135 EVs, significantly lower than the global average of one station for every 6-20 EVs, according to CareEdge research report. As per estimates, India now has over 12,000 public EV-charging stations and needs at least 1.3 million charging stations by 2030. Recognising the need, the government is also prioritising charging infrastructure. Among the notable initiatives are the setting up of 72,000 public charging stations with an investment of Rs 2,000 crore across the country by 2026. Above all, India imports over 90% of the EV batteries, which makes the end product expensive and also remains vulnerable to supply shocks. The question is, if and how the government will overcome these multiple challenges to restart the EV journey.
