Gilmour Space *might* be launching their Eris rocket (and its Vegemite payload) right now. 🚀
The launch window is open, but there's no official livestream or other live updates. We just have to wait a few hours for an announcement about whether they launched, and if they went to space today.
Unofficial livestream from 12 km away by Josh Keegan (Aussienaut) here: https://www.youtube.com/live/mgXkXSFX0Dg (H/T @SuperMoosie)
Rumour is that launch will be at 3pm. Supposedly Adam Gilmour posted on LinkedIn about it.
Winds at altitude are the problem. Apparently they are going for one last try for today at 3:23 pm.
*sigh*
The launch is scrubbed.
That Vegemite remains earthbound for at least one more day.
Gilmour Space got going early this morning and did launch their Eris rocket for the first time, but unfortunately it was a very brief flight.
The rocket did clear the tower and remained pointy end up, flamey end down throughout, but only managed to achieve a maximum altitude of about 50 metres before descending again, and broke up when it hit the ground.
Here's the section of the unofficial Aussienaut livestream that covers the launch and flight: https://www.youtube.com/live/3-4xv0UxIhY?t=5554
Gilmour Space have posted a couple of good photos of the brief flight of Eris TestFlight 1 on their Facebook page, along with a very positive take on events.
In the second photo, a closeup of the flamey end of the rocket very soon after liftoff, it looks like the hybrid rocket motor furthest from the camera was already failing.
Something else I noticed in the livestream video, when the rocket crashed it did not result in a powerful explosion and huge fireball. Instead there were clouds of white vapour, followed later by darker smoke from a smallish fire. This is because the first two stages of the Eris rocket use hybrid rocket motors, which because of the combination of solid fuel and liquid oxidiser don't explode in the way a liquid fuelled rocket would. The white clouds would have been the oxidiser (hydrogen peroxide?) escaping, and the subsequent fire would have been the result of the liquid fuelled 3rd stage breaking up, plus the solid fuel from the 1st and 2nd stage burning slowly in the open air.
Gilmour Space have now released some video of Eris TestFlight1 to the media and it's getting posted in various places, e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rtKV9t_Cqs
The video shows the flight from two different cameras. In the second clip you can clearly see that there is a failure of one of the four first stage engines almost immediately after lift off, leaving the rocket with a thrust to weight ratio very close to one. Eris ends up basically hovering near the launch pad, but then a second engine fails and it drops to the ground.
The guidance system did a good job keeping the rocket upright during all this.
Scott Manley's take on Eris TestFlight1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98haEggTw4A
He adds some interesting details about the design of the rocket, e.g. the use of fixed main engine nozzles with reaction control thrusters.
It's OK, they found the Vegemite.
I just noticed that, for added Australian-ness, there is a spider on the Vegemite.
Attached: 1 image It's OK, they found the Vegemite. #Space #Spaceflight #GilmourSpace #ErisRocket #TestFlight1
@spacelizard let’s take a minute to appreciate the awesomeness of this shirt
https://spaceaustralia.com.au/products/14-seconds-of-glory-tee-black
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