Gilmour Space Technologies has postponed the historic maiden launch of its Eris rocket indefinitely after an electrical fault during pre-launch checks caused the nose cone to open.
The company, which hopes to launch Australia’s first homegrown rocket, has not provided a new date for the TestFlight1 mission, with replacement parts needed to be transported to its launch site.
“While we’re disappointed by the delay, our team is already working on a solution and we expect to be back at the pad soon,” Gilmour Space said in a LinkedIn post on Friday morning.
The electrical fault is the second issue since the company was given the green light from the space agency to launch its three-stage Eris rocket from the Bowen Orbital Spaceport in northern Queensland.
An earlier issue with the ground support system delayed its initial Thursday morning launch window, forcing the company into to an extended hold and prompting it to shoot for Friday morning.
But during final launch preparations by the team on Thursday night, an “electrical fault triggered the system that opens the rocket’s nose cone (the payload fairing)”, the company said.
No one was injured by the “pre-launch anomaly”, which occurred before the rocket had been fueled, and “early checks show no damage to the rocket or the launch pad”, the company said.
But Gilmour Space will have to wait for a new nose cone – which needs to to be sent from the company’s Gold Coast headquarters and manufacturing facility – to be installed on Eris before it attempts the launch again.
“We have a replacement nose cone in our factory on the Gold Coast that will be sent to the launch site and installed after a full investigation into what caused the issue,” the company said.
“As a result, we’ll be postponing this test launch campaign to fully understand what happened and make any necessary updates. While we’re disappointed by the delay, our team is already working on a solution, and we expect to be back at the pad soon.”
Later on Friday, Gilmour Space co-founder and chief executive Adam Gilmour said he hoped to get Eris “back on the pad again in about three weeks”.
Final clearance for the maiden launch was granted last week, with the launch window opening on May 15. An early launch window opening on March 15 was stopped by Tropical Cyclone Alfred and regulatory blizzard.
The company was granted its launch permit last November – the first-ever permit issued by the space agency for a sovereign launch vehicle that Mr Gilmour has previously said brought “a lot of pain”.
Updated at 2:12 to include additional comments
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