In this podcast, Ben sits down with our CEO Lloyd Damp for an in-depth interview. Find out how a few beers began our rocketing adventure, and more!
Southern Launch founder and CEO Lloyd Damp said he will be delighted to sign an agreement with Perigee to use the planned Eyre Peninsula rocket launch facility
Damp said securing a commercial launch partner with such good backing would fast track the development of the launch site at Whaler’s Way at the tip of the Eyre Peninsula.He said there would not be a problem building the necessary infrastructure in a year because Southern Launch had been granted Major Project status by the South Australian Government and the physical requirements of a New Space project were not massive.“A lot of people say ‘space launch! this means Cape Canaveral’, you know, bulldozers, all this type of stuff,” he said.“In reality, we’re putting up a glorified garden shed for the vehicle assembly and then a piece of concrete, which is about the same size footprint as a residential home. So this is tiny, tiny equipment to launch rockets into space. It’s called New Space.”The 1190-hectare Whaler’s Way site is about a 35-minute drive from the regional centre of Port Lincoln. The complex is 250km west of Adelaide and 500km south of Woomera, the historic rocket launch site that is restricted to military use.
Mr Damp said the company would continue its development process and work with Perigee Rocket LLC to finalise infrastructure designs and investigate potential sites at Whalers Way.He said the company would return in the New Year to meet with community members to show designs and would look at doing presentations in schools.
Southern Launch are now developing an inland launch site for suborbital launches called the Koonibba Test Range! They already have a launch scheduled for this year from the site.
The Koonibba test range will be used as a trial location for companies before launching rockets into orbit from the Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex near Port Lincoln.
What is the exact location (coordinates) of the Whalers Way launch complex?
Southern Launch founder Lloyd Damp announced during the space forum a partnership with DEWC Systems to launch a test rocket from it’s launch facilities in South Australia.DEWC Systems is a South Australian company developing electronic warfare solutions for Australian Defence, and Damp said that being two South Australian startups allowed them to quickly collaborate to get the launch project off the ground.