Page 42 - Australian Defence Magazine Sep 2021

42 SPACE
SEPTEMBER 2021 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
As for any new space company, the outcome of that first launch will be uncertain – more than half of first flights globally fail, according to Gilmour. Nonetheless, the rock- et’s path to space will plot out a learning curve in real time.
“We’ll have various milestones of success,” Gilmour said. “If the engines turn on, that’s a tick. If it leaves the pad, that’s another tick. If the first stage finishes its burn, that’s a big tick. If you get a staged separation, that’s another big tick, and so on.
Gilmour Space is working with DEWC Systems on tech- nologies that could support the MOESS system, including launch options. The company also has a satellite ‘bus’ in development to help future customers get their hardware into space.
“One of the advantages we have against some of our competitors is they’re making buses that fit into their own rockets, whereas our bus is quite agnostic and is able to be launched on anybody’s rocket,” Gilmour said. “So custom- ers don’t have to feel like they’re locked into launching with us if they use the bus.”
Whilst the company has had a productive year, includ- ing a $61 million Series C round capital raise (the largest- ever private equity raise by an Australian space company), Gilmour is emphatic that the government can and should do more to fund local space industry.
“Nothing has changed. I’ve raised $61 million from pri- vate investors. We’ve built our team to 85 so far this year. We’ve taken our technology up significantly and yet there’s still no direct funding from the government or space agen- cy,” Gilmour said. “Good leadership is a technology road- map and then funding associated with companies that are developing the technology.”
What kind of investment would make a tangible differ- ence to Australia’s space economy?
“For us, anything north of $10 million would make a meaningful difference,” Gilmour answered. “I’ve raised enough money to build and launch four rockets. I have not raised enough money to buy any of the machinery or co-invest in build new technologies or capabilities that will help me bring the supply chain in from overseas into Australia. The current business as usual is not getting the job done.” ■
ABOVE: The company wants to complete the rocket before the end of the year.
“I HAVE NOT RAISED ENOUGH MONEY TO... BRING THE SUPPLY CHAIN IN FROM OVERSEAS INTO AUSTRALIA”
“Hopefully we get through it all the first time; but as long as we get through most of it, that’s a tremen- dous learning curve for us.”
The launch site is set as Abbott Point in Queensland, chosen fol- lowing three years of research and coincidental alignment with the preferences of the Queensland Government, which is helping to approve its development.
“It’s one of the safest places you can launch from the eastern seaboard and it’s also the best location in terms of orbital positions,” Gilmour said. “The Queensland Government does want the site to have poten-
tial for multiple users and we know it has that potential.” If the rocket makes it to space, it will carry a large percent- age of Australian-made parts, manufactured in Helensvale on the Gold Coast. But Gilmour is aiming for a Modern Manu- facturing Initiative to locally source and manufacture com- ponents that currently come from overseas – such as rocket
nozzles, the end domes on the fuel tanks, pumps and valves. “We want to bring a lot of these overseas components into Australia and be manufactured here,” Gilmour said. “We’re really hoping that we can get access to the Modern Manufacturing Initiative, which will enable us to bring on- shore the manufacture of a lot of these components that are
currently made in Europe and America and Japan.”
GILMOUR SPACE