Having set up Gilmour Space Technologies in 2013 to design and manufacture high-fidelity simulators for their Spaceflight Academy on the Gold Coast, brothers, co-founders and self-titled space geeks Adam and James Gilmour began exploring other types of space technology.
In 2015 that led them to start work on a new hybrid rocket propulsion system.
Fast forward to now and the company has over 40 employees.
The brothers say the world is on the cusp of a New Space revolution, but high costs and lack of available launches are causing major bottlenecks hindering the growth of this new market.
“What New Space players today need are more affordable rockets, and that’s where Gilmour Space comes in with our new hybrid rockets,” Adam says.
Gilmour Space Technologies raised a $5M Series A in 2017 after their first rocket launch, and a $19M Series B in 2019 after their largest static test fire to date.
“That money will be going into beefing up our team and developing and manufacturing our next rocket.
“I think it’s also very interesting that both our lead investors, Blackbird Ventures and Main Sequence Ventures, are Australian venture capital firms supporting deep tech startups.”
Since launching its first hybrid rocket in mid-2016, the company has built and developed a mobile rocket launch system, the first of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, which it successfully tested in July 2019. The company is now working full steam ahead to develop and launch its Eris orbital rocket by 2021.
In 2019 company signed an agreement with the University of Southern Queensland to work together on rocket technology research and testing, as well as some STEM initiatives. More recently it has partnered with Griffith University to develop and launch low earth orbit satellites.
“We are also casting our nets for potential suppliers from adjacent industries that could provide rocket-related equipment, components or services. There are good supply chain and advanced manufacturing opportunities in space right now, something innovative companies in Australia might want to consider as a future growth market,” Adam says.
