INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Payload fairing problems have caused a number of rocket failures, usually because they don't jettison during launch, or only partially
deploy, leaving too much extra weight on the launch vehicle for it to reach orbit.Gilmour said it is postponing the Eris launch campaign "to
has raised approximately $90 million from venture capital firms and government funds to get the first Eris rocket to the launch pad.
The astronauts on NASA's Gemini 9A mission snapped this photo of a target vehicle they were supposed to dock with in orbit
But the rocket's nose shroud only partially opened, inadvertently illustrating the method in which payload fairings are designed to jettison
from their rockets in flight.
Credit:
NASA
The Eris rocket was aiming to
become the first all-Australian launcher to reach orbit
Australia hosted a handful of satellite launches by US and British rockets more than 50 years ago.Gilmour is headquartered in Gold Coast,
Australia, about 600 miles south of the Eris launch pad near the coastal town of Bowen
In a statement, Gilmour said it has a replacement payload fairing in its factory in Gold Coast
The company will send it to the launch site and install it on the Eris rocket after a "full investigation" into the cause of the premature
soon," Gilmour said.Officials did not say how long it might take to investigate the problem, correct it, and fit a new nose cone on the Eris
rocket.This setback follows more than a year of delays Gilmour blamed primarily on holdups in receiving regulatory approval for the launch
from the Australian government.Like many rocket companies have done before, Gilmour set modest expectations for the first test flight of
While the rocket has everything needed to fly to low-Earth orbit, officials said they were looking for just 10 to 20 seconds of stable
flight on the first launch, enough to gather data about the performance of the rocket and its unconventional hybrid propulsion system.
