Australian-made rocket crashes with Vegemite payload

[Buster's Uncle]

Australian-made rocket crashes with Vegemite payload
Our Foreign Staff
The Telegraph
Thu, July 31, 2025 at 6:10 AM EDT
2 min read



Gilmour Space Technologies said the launch would be a success if the rocket left the ground - Gilmour Space Technologies


An Australian orbital rocket carrying a jar of Vegemite in its nose cone crashed after 14 seconds of flight on Wednesday.

Gilmour Space Technologies, the aerospace company behind the launch, is attempting to send the first Australian-made rocket into orbit from the country’s soil.

The firm had said earlier it would consider the launch a success if the rocket left the ground.

“I’m so relieved you couldn’t believe,” Adam Gilmour, the chief executive of the aerospace firm told AFP news agency. “I was so nervous about it getting off the pad, that when it did I screamed in pure joy.”

The 23-metre vehicle, designed to launch small satellites into low-Earth orbit, took off from Abbot Point, about 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) up from Brisbane.

The payload for the test flight was a jar of Vegemite, a popular Australian spread, which was strapped inside the rocket’s nose cone.

Mr Gilmour said preparations for a second test flight were already under way, with a view to launching within the next “six to eight months”.

“It’s huge what you can prove with just 10 to 15 seconds of flight time,” he said.

He added: “I’m sorry to say the Vegemite didn’t make it.”


Millions in grants

The company, which has 230 employees, hopes to start commercial launches in late 2026 or early 2027.

Gilmour Space Technologies has private funders and was awarded a grant of five million Australian dollars (£2.4m) this month from the country’s federal government for the development of the Eris rocket.

It followed the firm’s A$52m (£25.3m) grant agreement with the government in 2023 to advance the development and commercialisation of new space technologies in Australia.

The country has been the site of hundreds of suborbital vehicle launches but only two have been successful, according to NASASpaceFlight, the aerospace news platform.

The Eris test flight was the first orbital launch attempt from Australia in more than 50 years.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/australian-made-rocket-crashes-vegemite-074509767.html