 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Aerospace |
| Founded | 21 November 2018  |
| Headquarters | |
Key people |
|
| Services |
|
| Website | bsaero |
Black Sky Aerospace (BSA) is an Australian private aerospace company, headquartered in Logan, Queensland. Black Sky Aerospace specialises in payload delivery systems using in-house developed propulsion technologies, rocket componentry and suborbital vehicles. Black Sky also provides access to calibration and simulation systems.
In 2021, Black Sky Aerospace welcomed the federal government's allocation of A$678,487 for the company to manufacture Responsive Common Use Booster (RCUB) propellant for commercial use. Black Sky CEO Blake Nikolic said the project received grant funding from the Australian Space Agency's Moon to Mars Supply Chain Capability Improvement grant opportunity. [1] In June 2023, Goondiwindi Regional Council issued planning approval for Black Sky to develop its rocket launch site northwest of the town. [2]
Black Sky Aerospace is an Australian private aerospace company, headquartered in Logan, Queensland. [3] It was formerly located in Jimboomba. [4]
On 21 November 2018, Black Sky Aerospace successfully conducted Australia's first commercial payload rocket launch from the nation's only sub-orbital launch facility west of Goondiwindi in Queensland. [5] This sub-orbital mission utilised a Sighter190 research rocket to carry experimental payloads and instruments to an altitude of approximately 20,000 ft (6,100 m). [6] [7]
The then-Minister for State Development, Manufacturing, Infrastructure and Planning, Cameron Dick, was present to press the launch button. [8]
In September 2019, Black Sky Aerospace was granted approval by regulators to begin manufacturing solid rocket motors. [9] Solid rocket motors (SRM's) are the fuel (propellant) that boosts rockets in to space, such as the boosters on the space shuttle and is the preferred fuel to use by many space launch companies due to its simplicity and cost-effectiveness. [10] The company will be the first manufacturer of its kind in Australia and will be able to provide access to solid fuels for orbital and sub-orbital launch vehicles.[ citation needed ]
In October 2019, Black Sky Aerospace gained priority access to the new Equatorial Launch Australia (ELA) Arnhem Space Centre near Nhulunbuy in the Northern Territory. [11] BSA director Blake Nikolic said priority access to the Arnhem Space Centre would provide his customers with the benefits of launching close to the equator. [12]
Equatorial Launch Australia operates the Arnhem Space Centre and as of 2019, planned to host NASA's first launch from a foreign non-government-owned site. [12] The launch, of an astrophysics-oriented sounding rocket, successfully occurred on the morning of 27 June 2022, with a second scheduled for 4 July, and a third later in the month. [13] [14]
In 2022, Black Sky successfully launched an artillery rocket from a module mounted on the tray of a commercially-available Holden Colorado. [15]
A booster is a rocket used either in the first stage of a multistage launch vehicle or in parallel with longer-burning sustainer rockets to augment the space vehicle's takeoff thrust and payload capability. Boosters are traditionally necessary to launch spacecraft into low Earth orbit, and are especially important for a space vehicle to go beyond Earth orbit. The booster is dropped to fall back to Earth once its fuel is expended, a point known as booster engine cut-off (BECO).
Delta II was an expendable launch system, originally designed and built by McDonnell Douglas, and sometimes known as the Thorad Delta 1. Delta II was part of the Delta rocket family, derived directly from the Delta 3000, and entered service in 1989. There were two main variants, the Delta 6000 and Delta 7000, with the latter also having "Light" and "Heavy" subvariants. During its career, Delta II flew several notable payloads, including 24 Global Positioning System (GPS) Block II satellites, several dozen NASA payloads, and 60 Iridium communication satellites. The rocket flew its final mission, ICESat-2, on 15 September 2018, earning the launch vehicle a streak of 100 successful missions in a row, with the last failure being GPS IIR-1 in 1997. In the late 1990s, Delta II was developed further into the unsuccessful Delta III, which was in turn developed into the more capable and successful Delta IV, though the latter shares little heritage with the original Thor and Delta rockets.
Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK) was an American aerospace and arms manufacturer headquartered in Arlington County, Virginia. The company operated across 22 states, Puerto Rico, and internationally. ATK revenue in fiscal year 2014 was about US$4.8 billion.
A solid rocket booster (SRB) is a large solid propellant motor used to provide thrust in spacecraft launches from initial launch through the first ascent. Many launch vehicles, including the Atlas V, SLS and Space Shuttle, have used SRBs to give launch vehicles much of the thrust required to place the vehicle into orbit. The Space Shuttle used two Space Shuttle SRBs, which were the largest solid propellant motors ever built and the first designed for recovery and reuse. The propellant for each solid rocket motor on the Space Shuttle weighed approximately 500,000 kilograms.
Titan IV was a family of heavy-lift space launch vehicles developed by Martin Marietta and operated by the United States Air Force from 1989 to 2005. Launches were conducted from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistage rocket, but the term is more general and also encompasses vehicles like the Space Shuttle. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pad, supported by a launch control center and systems such as vehicle assembly and fueling. Launch vehicles are engineered with advanced aerodynamics and technologies, which contribute to high operating costs.
Atlas V is an expendable launch system and the fifth major version in the Atlas launch vehicle family. It was designed by Lockheed Martin and has been operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA) since 2006. It is used for DoD, NASA, and commercial payloads. It is America's longest-serving active rocket. After 87 launches, in August 2021 ULA announced that Atlas V would be retired, and all 29 remaining launches had been sold. As of July 2024, 15 launches remain. Production ceased in 2024. Other future ULA launches will use the Vulcan Centaur rocket.
A payload fairing is a nose cone used to protect a spacecraft payload against the impact of dynamic pressure and aerodynamic heating during launch through an atmosphere. An additional function on some flights is to maintain the cleanroom environment for precision instruments. Once outside the atmosphere the fairing is jettisoned, exposing the payload to outer space.
New Shepard is a fully reusable sub-orbital launch vehicle developed for space tourism by Blue Origin. The vehicle is named after Alan Shepard, who became the first American to travel into space and the fifth person to walk on the Moon. The vehicle is capable of vertical takeoff and landings. Additionally, it is also capable of carrying humans and customer payloads into a sub-orbital trajectory.
The Inertial Upper Stage (IUS), originally designated the Interim Upper Stage, was a two-stage, solid-fueled space launch system developed by Boeing for the United States Air Force beginning in 1976 for raising payloads from low Earth orbit to higher orbits or interplanetary trajectories following launch aboard a Titan 34D or Titan IV rocket as its upper stage, or from the payload bay of the Space Shuttle as a space tug.
Cameron Robert Dick is an Australian politician and member of the Labor Party currently serving as the 36th Deputy Premier and 51st Treasurer of the state of Queensland and Minister for Trade and Investment. He previously served as Minister for State Development, Manufacturing, Infrastructure and Planning and was Minister for Health and Minister for Ambulance Services in the Palaszczuk Ministry. He also served as Attorney-General, Minister for Education and Minister for Industrial Relations in the Bligh government. He is currently a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly representing the seat of Woodridge.
Rocket Lab USA, Inc. is a publicly traded aerospace manufacturer and launch service provider. Its Electron orbital rockets launches small satellites, and has launched 53 times as of 2024. A sub-orbital Electron variant called HASTE serves other needs. The company also supplies satellite components including star trackers, reaction wheels, solar cells and arrays, satellite radios, separation systems, as well as flight and ground software.
Falcon Heavy is a heavy-lift launch vehicle with partial reusability that can carry cargo into Earth orbit, and beyond. It is designed, manufactured and launched by American aerospace company SpaceX.
The H3 Launch Vehicle is a Japanese expendable launch system. H3 launch vehicles are liquid-propellant rockets with strap-on solid rocket boosters and are launched from Tanegashima Space Center in Japan. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and JAXA are responsible for the design, manufacture, and operation of the H3. The H3 is the world's first rocket to use an expander bleed cycle for the first stage engine.
Firefly Aerospace is an American private aerospace firm based in Cedar Park, Texas, that develops small and medium launch vehicles for commercial launches to orbit. The company completed its $75 million Series A investment round in May 2021, which was led by DADA Holdings. The current company was formed when the assets of the former company Firefly Space Systems were acquired by EOS Launcher in March 2017, which was then renamed Firefly Aerospace. Firefly's stated purpose is to increase access to space, similar to other private spaceflight companies.
Electron is a two-stage, partially reusable orbital launch vehicle developed by Rocket Lab, an American aerospace company with a wholly owned New Zealand subsidiary. Electron services the commercial small satellite launch market. It's the third most launched small-lift launch vehicle in history. Its Rutherford engines are the first electric-pump-fed engine to power an orbital-class rocket. Electron is often flown with a kickstage or Rocket Lab's Photon spacecraft. Although the rocket was designed to be expendable, Rocket Lab has recovered the first stage twice and is working towards the capability of reusing the booster. The Flight 26 (F26) booster has featured the first helicopter catch recovery attempt. Rocket Lab has, however, abandoned the idea of catching Electron.
Orbital ATK Inc. was an American aerospace manufacturer and defense industry company. It was formed in February 9, 2015 from the merger of Orbital Sciences Corporation and parts of Alliant Techsystems (ATK). Orbital ATK designed, built, and delivered rocket engines, military vehicles, firearms, autocannons, missiles, ammunition, precision-guided munitions, satellites, missile approach warning systems, launch vehicles and spacecraft. The company was acquired by Northrop Grumman on June 6, 2018. The former Orbital ATK operations were renamed Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems and operated as a division until January 1, 2020 when a reorganization merged the operations into the company's other divisions.
OmegA was a medium-lift to heavy-lift launch vehicle concept that spent several years in development by Northrop Grumman during 2016–2020, with that development substantially funded by the U.S. government. OmegA was intended for launching U.S. national security satellites, as part of the U.S. Department of the Air Force National Security Space Launch (NSSL) replacement program.
Gilmour Space Technologies is a venture-funded Australian aerospace company that is developing hybrid-propellant rocket engines and associated technologies to support the deployment of a low-cost launch vehicle.
During the lifetime of the Space Shuttle, Rockwell International and many other organizations studied various Space Shuttle designs. These involved different ways of increasing cargo and crew capacity, as well as investigating further reusability. A large focus of these designs were related to developing new shuttle boosters and improvements to the central tank, but also looked to expand NASA's ability to launch deep space missions and build modular space stations. Many of these concepts and studies would shape the concepts and programs of the 2000s such as the Constellation, Orbital Space Plane Program, and Artemis program.
