Southern Launch is the trading name of SouthernLaunch.space Pty Ltd, an Australian

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial, and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astron ...

company and

launch service provider A launch service provider or launch vehicle provider is a type of company that delivers a payload into space, including the delivery of satellites, spacecraft, cargo, astronauts, and potentially space tourists. Services provided may include furnis ...

. As of 2023, they operated Australia's only rocket facilities approved by the

Australian Space Agency The Australian Space Agency is an agency of the Australian Government responsible for the development of Australia's commercial aerospace industry, coordinating domestic space activities, identifying opportunities and facilitating internatio ...

for launches to space. The company, which has its main office in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, provides infrastructure and logistics support for

orbital Orbital may refer to: Sciences Chemistry and physics * Atomic orbital * Molecular orbital * Hybrid orbital Astronomy and space flight * Orbit ** Earth orbit Medicine and physiology * Orbit (anatomy), also known as the ''orbital bone'' * Orbitof ...

and

sub-orbital A sub-orbital spaceflight is a spaceflight in which the spacecraft reaches outer space, but its trajectory intersects the surface of the gravitating body from which it was launched. Hence, it will not complete one orbital revolution, will no ...

launches of commercial satellites and payloads. This role is in response to increasing demand from small-satellite companies for dedicated launches that avoid the constraints and delays of having other payloads on the same vehicle. It operates from two launch sites on western and southern

Eyre Peninsula The Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded by the Spencer Gulf on the east, the Great Australian Bight on the west, and the Gawler Ranges to the north. Earlier called Eyre's Peninsula, it was named after e ...

Facilities

Southern Launch has an agreement with Perigee Aerospace of

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

to use its launch facilities. The company also has a contract to be the launch service provider for Adelaide company DEWC Systems, which had its first launch in September 2020. DEWC is engaged in an advanced sensing program involving satellites capable of helping the

Australian Defence Force The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the Armed forces, military organisation responsible for the defence of Australia and its national interests. It consists of three branches: the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army and the Royal Aus ...

to detect and track challenging targets. The company operates from two sites: the Koonibba test area in western

, north-west of the town of Ceduna, and the Whalers Way site on the southern tip of Eyre Peninsula, south-west of the regional city of

Port Lincoln Port Lincoln is a city on the Lower Eyre Peninsula in the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of South Australia. Known as Galinyala by the traditional owners, the Barngarla people, it is situated on the shore of Boston Bay, ...

. The company expects to launch 40 rockets a year depending on permanent government approvals for its two currently leased sites. The

federal government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

via the Australian Space Agency granted launch licences for individual test launches in 2020, 2021 and 2022. Separately, the

state government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonom ...

gave temporary environmental approval and was considering approval of the Whalers Way launch pad on a permanent basis. Pending such approval, a concrete launch pad has been the only infrastructure constructed at each site. Other assets were mobile and were brought on site only during launch sessions.

Koonibba

The Koonibba Test Range, near the small Aboriginal

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

Koonibba Koonibba is a locality and an associated Aboriginal community in South Australia located about northwest of the state capital of Adelaide and about northwest of the municipal seat in Ceduna and north of the Eyre Highway. The settlement ...

, is for

launches. Chosen for easy recovery of equipment, which is not possible over water, it accommodates trajectories of over two uninhabited national parks, the

Yumbarra Conservation Park Yumbarra Conservation Park, formerly the Yumbarra National Park, is a protected area in the Australian state of South Australia located about north of the town centre of Ceduna. To the north it borders Yellabinna Regional Reserve; to the east ...

and Yellabinna Wilderness Protection Area. The site was the location of the company's first launches, in September 2020, which were the first commercial, space-capable rocket launches in Australia. The range is located on Aboriginal land by permission of the Koonibba community, some of whose members have been hired to help set up and operate it – including cordoning off roads and other traffic control, interacting with emergency services, and guiding public spectators at launch time to ensure safe conditions.

Whalers Bay

The Whalers Way site is for

polar Polar may refer to: Geography * Geographical pole, either of the two points on Earth where its axis of rotation intersects its surface ** Polar climate, the climate common in polar regions ** Polar regions of Earth, locations within the polar circ ...

and

Sun-synchronous orbit A Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), also called a heliosynchronous orbit, is a nearly polar orbit around a planet, in which the satellite passes over any given point of the planet's surface at the same local mean solar time. More technically, it is ...

launches. It is only from the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the world ocean, generally taken to be south of 60th parallel south, 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is the seco ...

, allowing southwards trajectories of more than before

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

is reached. In late 2022, the company was reported as being in negotiations with the South Australian government to either extend approval to use the concrete launch pad or to secure permanent development approval for the site.

Rockets and payloads

Southern Launch's initial activities were the first of continuing efforts to test its launch facilities and evaluate environmental impacts in addition to testing rocket propulsion, guidance, telemetry and structural systems. The first two vehicles to be launched, on 19 September 2020, were small , long DART rockets, which took a northward sub-orbital trajectory from the Koonibba site. Subsequent activity involved Hapith 1 rockets supplied by Taiwanese company,

TiSpace TiSPACE, officially Taiwan Innovative Space Inc. ( zh, 台灣晉陞太空股份有限公司), is a space launch company from Taiwan. History TiSPACE was founded in 2016 by a group of investors, scientists, and engineers led by Yen-Sen Chen who h ...

, which had been invited by the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national executive government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The executive consists of the pr ...

to manufacture their rockets in Australia. In 2021 the company established an Australian subsidiary company, TASpace, in Adelaide, for that purpose. TASpace rockets are distinguished by the name "Kestrel". Kestrel 1 rockets have two stages, weigh and stand tall. Their engine uses TiSpace's non-explosive hybrid propulsion technology to climb to a sub-orbital altitude of about , reaching speeds of two to six times the speed of sound (

Mach The Mach number (M or Ma), often only Mach, (; ) is a dimensionless quantity in fluid dynamics representing the ratio of flow velocity past a Boundary (thermodynamic), boundary to the local speed of sound. It is named after the Austrian physi ...

2–6). On 3 May 2024,

HyImpulse HyImpulse is a German private space launch enterprise headquartered in Neuenstadt am Kocher and developing a small launch vehicle designed around hybrid-propellant rockets. The company is a DLR spinoff founded in 2018 out of the chemical propuls ...

's SR75 suborbital rocket successfully flew its maiden launch from Koonibba Test Range.

Environmental concerns

Bird enthusiasts are hoping that the site may be assessed as unsuitable for rocket launches, saying that they threaten the survival of the Southern emu-wren; others are concerned about potential fire risks. Southern Launch's CEO, LLoyd Damp, said the company had developed a 3200-page

environmental impact statement An environmental impact statement (EIS), under United States environmental law, is a document required by the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for certain actions "significantly affecting the quality of the human environment". An E ...

in consultation with a range of industry experts. It was sponsoring research into the lower Eyre Peninsula's fauna and flora; implementing a weed, vermin and feral animal eradication program; and reintroducing native vegetation. He also stated that the company had been able to "demonstrate when we attempted the first launch, when we did have a fire on the launch pad, we were able to manage the situation and make sure that the environment was never put at risk." He said that in the event that the site was approved for permanent use, the company was planning to set up its own first-responder team to cover any fire, medical or other emergencies.

Notes

References

{{Reflist Space technology Private spaceflight companies Aerospace companies of Australia