Australia's First Orbital Rocket Launch Delayed Again

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The inaugural launch of Australia's Eris-1 orbital rocket, built by Gilmour Space, has been delayed once again. The rocket was previously scheduled to launch from Pad 1 at the Bowen Orbital Spaceport in Queensland on July 2, 2025.

Gilmour Space stated that they postponed this maiden launch to allow for a more flexible launch window. The new launch date is likely to be announced next week. "A longer, more flexible launch window for our first test flight," the company wrote in an official statement, quoted from a Space report on Wednesday, July 2, 2025. Eris-1 has been waiting for its launch since May. At that time, the launch was canceled after the fairing system—the protective shell of the payload at the top of the rocket—was triggered accidentally. This caused the release system to activate once, immediately dislodging the carbon fiber protector from the rocket.

"While shutdowns are a normal part of launch operations, this issue didn’t appear during previous tests," said Gilmour Space. They added, "That’s because the fairing separation system is single-use and isn’t activated to maintain its reliability and ensure safety."

This latest delay marks the third since the beginning of the year. The initial launch attempt was first scheduled for March 2025 but was canceled due to extreme weather caused by Tropical Cyclone Alfred.

The 25-meter-tall Eris-1 rocket is designed to carry payloads of up to 215 kilograms into sun-synchronous orbit. Its inaugural launch, called TestFlight1, will be the first test of the plan for several launches as part of the rocket system certification process.

Since its establishment in 2015 by siblings Adam and James Gilmour, the company has grown to employ more than 200 staff and built its spaceport on the Queensland coast. Leading up to the launch, the company founders emphasized that regardless of the outcome, every stage of the flight will be considered a significant achievement.

"Whether we make it off the pad, reach max Q, or get all the way to space, what's important is that every second of flight will deliver valuable data that will improve our rocket's reliability and performance for future launches," they said in a press release last February.

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