Shooting for the stars

• The much-anticipated Eris is here! 500-backed Gilmour Space unveiled the home-grown rocket, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese joined the milestone occasion.
• This is a major one for the country as the Eris is the first Australian-made rocket to attempt an orbital space launch. That’s not all, it features Gilmour’s hybrid rocket engine technology, which is one of the first in the world to use a combination of solid and liquid propellants.
• Thanks to a ‘ridesharing’ arrangement, Eris will carry 300 companies with it when it launches into space. “Australia will become the 12th country in the world to be able to have access to this technology – designed, manufactured, and built right here (on the Gold Coast) and creating high-quality jobs,” the PM said. “This is truly an Australian manufacturing success story, and we want more of them.”
• CEO Adam Gilmour highlighted the need for Australia to have its own sovereign launch and satellite technologies in order to foster its capabilities in areas such as communications and advanced manufacturing.
• “The team is working hard toward the first test launch of our Eris rocket later this year. Only 11 nations have launched their own rockets into orbit, and our efforts will help to build a significant dual-use capability for Australia,” he shared.
• Read the full story here.