The agreement will allow Unastella to iteratively test and launch a small lift rocket that will pave the way for it to eventually develop a larger crewed rocket and spaceship.
Space Connect understands the deal will allow blast-offs from both Southern Launch’s traditional Whalers Way orbital launch spaceport and its separate Koonibba suborbital test range in South Australia.
Southern Launch CEO Lloyd Damp hailed Unastella as an “ambitious company with a bright future”.
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“We will have everything ready for Unastella when it’s time to launch,” he said. “They just need to bring the rocket.”
The formal agreement was signed in Seoul last week and the pair will now work to gain regulatory approval from the Australian Space Agency.
Unastella – named after the Latin words for “one star” – hopes to begin its “human space flight platform” with suborbital space tourist flights before progressing to missions to 400 kilometres (the height of the ISS) and eventually “deep space manned space exploration” to the moon and Mars.
“This partnership will create greater momentum for Unastella by overcoming launch site obstacles,” said Park Jae-hong, the rocket manufacturer’s founder and CEO.
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“The ability to conduct regular launches out over the Southern Ocean as we develop our vehicles is incredibly valuable as we can iterate our technology safely.
“This partnership with Southern Launch will provide us with an instrumented range as well as the regulatory approvals and logistics, meaning we can continue to concentrate on the development of the vehicle.”
The news comes after German rocket manufacturer HyImpulse said it intended to sign up for more suborbital blast-offs from Southern Launch’s Koonibba Test Range following a successful launch in May.
“Thanks to Southern Launch’s overland test range at Koonibba, the team from HyImpulse were able to recover their rocket to understand the performance of the vehicle,” said Damp.
“Being able to recover the rocket means the HyImpulse team has vital information at their fingertips rather than at the bottom of the ocean, which is what differentiates the Koonibba Test Range from most other test ranges around the world.”
Koonibba – a joint venture between the launch firm and the Koonibba Community Aboriginal Corporation – is designed to test rockets and payloads by blasting them into suborbital space before they return to Earth in the same location.
It differs from Southern Launch’s more traditional Whalers Way Complex at the tip of the Eyre Peninsula, which specialises in orbital launches over the sea.
Adam Thorn
Adam is a journalist who has worked for more than 40 prestigious media brands in the UK and Australia. Since 2005, his varied career has included stints as a reporter, copy editor, feature writer and editor for publications as diverse as Fleet Street newspaper The Sunday Times, fashion bible Jones, media and marketing website Mumbrella as well as lifestyle magazines such as GQ, Woman’s Weekly, Men’s Health and Loaded. He joined Momentum Media in early 2020 and currently writes for Australian Aviation and World of Aviation.
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