MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st December, 2022) Australia failed two rocket tests last week, delaying the country's plans to become a sovereign space power, Australian media reported on Wednesday.
South Australian company ATSpace and private launch facilitator Southern Launch had hoped to launch up to 40 rockets annually at the Whalers Way launch site. However, the last attempt to send two rockets, AOS2 and AOS3, into space in test mode failed because of a nitrous oxide gas leak, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) said.
Southern Launch CEO Lloyd Damp said that both rockets will be sent to South Australia's cosmopolitan coastal capital of Adelaide for repairs, and the Whalers Way area leased for testing will be reopened for tourism, according to the report.
The South Australian government had granted the company permission to conduct three missile tests at Whalers Way until December 31, ABC reported, noting that a new test date will be set as early as 2023, and a new state permit will be required.
"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," Damp was quoted as saying by ABC.
South Australia's first rocket launch in 2021 also ended in failure when the rocket caught fire, the report read. Local activists began a campaign against the Whalers Way rocket site, fearing the extinction of rare animals, namely the southern emu-wren, and demanded relocation of the launch facility, ABC reported.
In early December, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said that Australia, with the help of the United States, should become a "sovereign space power."
Sovereign satellite launches using next-generation spacecraft being developed by US company SpaceX "will take defence and national security in space for Australia to a new level of activity," according to the institute.
