First Orbital Test Flight of an Australian-Made Rocket Cleared for Takeoff

Gold Coast-based Gilmour Space Technologies is set to go where no one has gone before; well, no one in Australia, anyway. It’s cleared the final hurdle to launching the first Australian-made rocket from Australian soil with the announcement by the Minister for Industry and Science, Ed Husic, that the Australian Space Agency has granted the country’s first launch permit. In Australia, a launch permit is required under the Space (Launches & Returns) Act to send up an object to an altitude of over 100 kilometres. It comes with a number of conditions that must be met before launch, and specifies a mandatory 30-day notification period....