Credit: Southern Launch

Southern Launch is an Adelaide-based space company and is moving ahead to develop the  world’s largest privately operated rocket test range near Koonibba, in the far west of South Australia.

Australia’s Koonibba Test Range will extend out over uninhabited national park, and is located on Aboriginal land north-west of Ceduna. The site provides the ability to recover rockets and do further testing and systems validation. The test site is on the land of the Koonibba Aboriginal community of roughly 200 people.

Trial location

The Koonibba test range will be used as a trial location for companies before launching rockets into orbit from the Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex near Port Lincoln.

Southern Launch is aiming to have a demonstration launch as soon as possible, according to the group’s website. This launch would not orbit a payload but prove that once again that Australia can launch rockets.

History

Australia’s first satellite, WRESAT, rocketed into orbit from Woomera in November 1967.
Credit: IAF

Australia was the 4th country in the world to successfully launch a satellite into space with the WRESAT satellite in 1967 and the Prospero satellite in 1971.

Both were launched from Woomera in South Australia. Australia has not launched anything into orbit from its soil since then.

For more information on Southern Launch, go to:

https://southernlaunch.space/

 

 

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