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Gilmour Space's own announcement (via its X/Twitter post and media release) states the record 110kN, 75-second engine test took place on 11 January 2022.[1]- Start
- Jan 11, 202290% CONFIDENCEsource
Gilmour Space Test-Fires Record Rocket Engine on the Gold Coast
Gilmour Space Technologies test-fired the largest and most powerful rocket engine ever developed in Australia, a 75-second, 110-kilonewton hybrid-engine burn ahead of its Eris orbital rocket program.
- On 11 January 2022, Gilmour Space Technologies test-fired its hybrid rocket main engine for a record 75 seconds at 110 kilonewtons (about 25,000 lbf) of thrust.[4][5]
- The test, run at the company's Gold Coast/Yatala facility in Queensland, was the largest and most powerful rocket engine test ever conducted in Australia at the time.[2][5]
- The engine went on to power Gilmour's Eris rocket, Australia's first attempt at an orbital launch.[2]
Notable features
- Gilmour Space develops hybrid-propellant rocket engines; it says its hybrid propulsion is lower cost, greener and safer to operate than most traditional rockets, and Eris would be the world's first hybrid rocket to reach orbit[2][5]
- The engine fired was the Eris first/second-stage hybrid engine; Gilmour's static-fire record runs from 90 kN for 30 seconds in February 2021 to 110 kN for 75 seconds in January 2022 and 115 kN for 100 seconds in November 2022[2]
- Eris Block 1 is a three-stage small-lift launch vehicle designed to carry up to 300 kg to low Earth orbit, with four Sirius hybrid rocket motors on the first stage, another Sirius motor on the second and a Phoenix liquid rocket engine on the third[2]
- The rocket stands 25 m tall with a 2 m first-stage diameter tapering to 1.5 m at the interstage, and a payload fairing offered in 1.5 m or 1.2 m diameters[2]