Two test rockets have failed to get off the ground at the Whalers Way Orbital Launch facility in the past week, giving hope to bird enthusiasts that the site may be reassessed as unsuitable for rocket launches.
Key points:
- The ATSpace rockets both experienced leaks, one during the loading of nitrous oxide, and the other detected just 15 minutes before the expected take off
- SA Birds Eyre Peninsula’s Fran Solly says the rockets threaten the survival of the Southern emu-wren at Whalers Way
- Southern Launch’s Lloyd Damp says the campaign was a success as they were able to collect data
South Australian company ATSpace and private launch facilitator Southern Launch are packing up their rocket and launch technology hub at Whalers Way south of Port Lincoln to reassess a date to return in 2023 after its final attempt was called off just 15 minutes before lift-off.
Southern Launch has leased the Whalers Way property with the aim to launch 40 rockets annually from the site throughout the year.
The South Australian government granted the company approval for three test launches, with a deadline of December 31.
Southern Launch will then need approval for permanent launch complex operations.
The first rocket launch at the site in 2021 failed after the rocket caught fire.
Southern Launch chief executive officer Lloyd Damp said ATSpace’s two rockets, AOS2 and AOS3, to be launched in the past week, experienced similar leaks.
One leaked while the fuel, nitrous oxide, was being loaded, and the other leak was detected with just 15 minutes until lift-off.
Mr Damp said despite the launches being scrubbed, the campaign was still a success because the company was able to collect data on its systems.
“A rocket is an incredibly complex piece of machinery and a bit like NASA’s Artemis mission to the moon where that rocket went back and forwards time and again as they chased down leaks with valves and similar parts of the rocket, so ATSpace has had a bit of a bad run with these rockets,” Mr Damp said.
“Everyone is understandably quite sad that all of the time and effort placed in prepping the vehicle didn’t result in an actual launch, but you know the right decisions were made by all involved.
‘Never, ever give up’
“It’s been a truly momentous occasion to get out on the range with these two rockets and, unfortunately, ATspace were unsuccessful in getting them off the ground, but 2023 is a new year and as Dr [YenSen] Chen [ATSpace founder] said to us yesterday, ‘Never, ever give up.'”
Mr Damp said the two rockets would be taken to Adelaide to be repaired and Whalers Way would be reopened to the public for tourism once the site was demobilised.
He expected there would not be any rocket activity onsite until at least after February, pending approvals.
“Hopefully, we’ll all be back on the range sometime early next year and be able to start a new chapter in Australian space endeavour,” Mr Damp said.
“We are in negotiations with the South Australian government to either extend the approval to use the concrete pad down at Whalers Way for rocket launches or to hopefully secure our permanent development approval for the site.”
Hope for different site
The rocket site has attracted community concern about fire risk and management plans and the impact on rare native animals.
SA Birds Eyre Peninsula representative Fran Solly has campaigned against the Whalers Way rocket site, saying it threatens the survival of the Southern emu-wren.
“There is a great deal of relief that the rockets have left the area and the birds are safe for the time being, but there is already a degree of disturbance out there with the trucks coming and going,” Ms Solly said.
“We hope that the decision-makers will have an opportunity to understand the concerns of the community and step in and relocate the launch facility.”
Flinders University PhD student Julian Behrens collected data on the population dynamics of the Eyre Peninsula subspecies of the Southern emu-wren, Stipoturus malachurus parimeda, at Whalers Way before the launch activity.
He said a separate consultancy employed by Southern Launch would assess the impact of the launch pad activity on the Southern emu-wren, and he hoped to return next spring to collect more data for his studies.
His PhD is funded by Southern Launch, and he recorded groups of Southern emu-wren near the launch pad.
“Whalers Way is prime habitat for southern emu-wren, and they are found pretty much everywhere there except that upper, middle area of thick mallee,” Mr Behrens said.
He said the birds were in decline and the last estimate of the emu-wren numbers in 2013 was 500 to 1,000 on the Eyre Peninsula.
“Now, thinking about my experiences so far, I’d actually say that today [there’s] a lot less,” Mr Behren said.
“We’d be lucky if we had 500.”
He said because the emu-wrens were poor flyers and with limited dispersal ability, they were highly vulnerable to habitat loss, fragmentation, introduced predators and fire events.
Mr Behrens said they were “likely to be highly impacted by increased human encroachment and habitat changes”.
