Koonibba Test Range

The Koonibba Test Range is a rocket test range near the town of Koonibba in the far west of South Australia. Rockets are launched to the north, with a range of 145 kilometres (90 mi) over the Yumbarra Conservation Park and Yellabinna Wilderness Protection Area.

Koonibba Test Range
LocationKoonibba, South Australia
Coordinates31.885558°S 133.448686°E / -31.885558; 133.448686 (Koonibba Test Range)[1]
OperatorSouthern Launch
Total launches2 (19 September 2020)
Launch history
StatusActive
First launch19 September 2020 (2020-09-19)

Koonibba Test Range is the world's largest privately-owned rocket test range and the only range to be hosted by a First Nations community.[2] The range allows companies, universities, space agencies and other organisations to pay for their rockets to be taken to the site, launched, and rockets and payloads to be recovered.[2]

History

In 2019-2020, a private space company, Southern Launch, consulted with the Koonibba Community Aboriginal Corporation before developing the test range site, which occupies 145 kilometres (90 mi) of uninhabited conservation park about 40 kilometres (25 mi) north-west of Ceduna. It is be used for space research, launching and recovering rockets before their final launch into orbit. The advantage of the site is that there is a vast area of land on which the rockets may be recovered.[3] Members of the local community have been employed to set up and operate the range.[4]

DEWC Systems, an Adelaide-based company, conducted two launches at the range in September 2020.[5][4] A rocket containing a small replica payload was scheduled to be launched from the site on 15 September 2020, with a second launch on 19 September. The first launch failed, and both launches were successful on the morning of 19 September 2020.[6] It was aimed at collecting information to develop a new technology consisting of tiny cube-shaped satellites, known as cubesats, for electronic warfare. The training and employment opportunities were welcomed by the community.[4][7]

Southern Launch's Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex, at the tip of the Eyre Peninsula, was planned before Koonibba, but as of 2020 is still under construction.[8][2]

References
  1. "South Australian orbital launch and suborbital launch sites". Invest iin SOuth Australia. Government of South Australia Department for Trade and Investment. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  2. "AdelaideAZ". AdelaideAZ. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  3. Lee, Stacey. "Rocket site in SA to be biggest private test range in the world, company says". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
  4. Lee, Stacey (25 August 2020). "South Australian rocket range one step closer to sending satellites into orbit to protect defence force". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  5. "Upcoming Launches". Southern Launch. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  6. Barila, Greg (19 September 2020). "Southern Launch successfully launches rockets to edge of space from Koonibba in outback South Australia". Sunday Mail. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  7. "Upcoming Launches". Southern Launch. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  8. "Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex". Southern Launch. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.