Gold Coast-based Gilmour Space Technologies has secured a $50,000 Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) grant from the Queensland Government to help employ an engineering graduate from The University of Queensland for 12 months who will work on researching, developing and testing a hybrid fuel catalyst pack for commercial rockets.
"This is a milestone in the development of a viable space industry for our nation," said Minister for Innovation, Science and the Digital Economy Leeanne Enoch.
"Over the next decade we will see a huge increase in the number of commercial applications for small satellites and this research and development will help Queensland secure a niche in this evolving sector of the lucrative global space industry.”
The company is planning to launch two sounding rockets during the course of the 12-month development and testing program. An initial launch to an altitude of 70 km is planned for the first quarter of 2018, subject to regulatory and launch approvals. A second to an altitude of 100 km is slated for fourth quarter 2018.
"This testing will help us perfect our fuel catalyst technology, allowing us to launch significantly larger rockets to much higher altitudes, and with cost savings that we can pass onto customers," said Gilmour Space Technologies Director James Gilmour.
"We've been fortunate to source a graduate engineer from UQ, which has first class aerospace testing facilities. Our graduate engineer will bring fresh insights into both the existing and future challenges associated with our integrated program of work.
The funding is administered through Advance Queensland, a $420 million whole-of-government initiative supporting jobs across a range of industry sectors. The Knowledge Transfer Partnerships program supports knowledge transfer between startups and small to medium businesses and recent graduates. It also helps form new collaborations with partnering universities that will increase skilled job opportunities. Other recipiients in this round of funding included the 400 Co and Becker Helicopter Services.
[Gilmour's RASTA rocket. Photo: Gilmour/Facebook]