The launch firm had set a two-week launch window opening in mid-March after clearing the final regulatory hurdle with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.
The weather event all but shut down large parts of south-east Queensland and north NSW for days when it touched down on Friday, 7 March.
Previously, Gilmour said it planned to have 50 staff based at its Bowen spaceport to help conduct the blast-off, which will be arguably the most significant moment in the sector’s history.
Eris is a three-stage orbital vehicle and the first to be almost entirely Australian-designed and manufactured.
Gilmour has been developing it for over eight years and believes it could address a gap in the global market for small satellite launches.
It had planned for an inaugural blast-off in April 2024 but faced a lengthy delay in obtaining its final permit from the Australian Space Agency.
The news comes weeks after the federal government relaxed the laws around launches to better consider the high likelihood of failure.
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The changes to the Space (Launches and Returns) Act 2018 include an amendment that means that if no property is destroyed, a longer investigation can now be avoided in the event of an explosion.
Gilmour has repeatedly stressed that the initial blast-off of Eris is likely to end in failure, while SpaceX engineers in 2023 famously celebrated when the first launch of Starship ended in failure.
“This is the second round of reforms over the past 18 months to the act, which will support our fast-moving and highly commercialised space sector,” said Enrico Palermo, the head of the Australian Space Agency.
“These changes will remove inefficiency and improve flexibility without compromising safety.”
Australia is currently home to four spaceports: Equatorial Launch Australia’s Arnhem Space Centre in the Northern Territory, Gilmour Space Technologies’ Orbital Spaceport in North Queensland and Southern Launch’s orbital Whalers Way facility and suborbital Koonibba Test Range in South Australia.
A fifth, by Space Centre Australia, is planned for far north Queensland, while ELA also hopes to move its spaceport to a similar location.
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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