American space agency NASA has successfully launched its first ever rocket from Australia.
NASA launched the commercial rocket at Nhulumbuy on the Gove Peninsula area of the Northern Territory on Sunday night, taking off from the lands of the Gumatj people who were consulted throughout the process.
The rocket travelled 300km in 15 minutes in space, carrying an atmospheric observation/sensing platform to observe constellations.
The historic launch was NASA's first from a fully commercial spaceport and is the first of three rocket launches, with the latter two planned for 4 and 12 July, to conduct astrophysics studies that can only be done from the Southern Hemisphere.
The launch took place near midnight after wind, rain and clouds delayed take off by around an hour.
The Arnhem Space Centre is owned and operated by Equatorial Launch Australia, a private company that has created the first commercial spaceport in Australia.
Arnhem Space Centre CEO Michael Jones told the Today Show on Monday morning the launch was successful despite the weather.
"When it finally went you feel the shock of the rocket as it left and the noise was pretty impressive," he told Today.
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Witnessing the launch were NT Chief Minister Natasha Fyles, American Consul General Kathleen Lively, senior members of the Australian Space Agency and the space industry and traditional owners
Michael Jones, Executive Chairman and Group CEO of ELA, said it was a historic night for ELA as it celebrated the first of many successful launches to happen at the Arnhem Space Centre.
"We are delighted to announce the successful completion of our first commercial space launch with our customer, NASA," said Mr Jones.
It is the first of three NASA-designed rockets to be launched from the new NT space centre and carries an X-ray quantum calorimeter, allowing scientists to measure interstellar X-rays with precision to provide new data on the structure and evolution of the cosmos.
It will not enter orbit but instead collect valuable scientific information which can only be conducted in the southern hemisphere.
Around 75 NASA personnel were on hand for the launch of what is a 13m "sounding rocket" which will carry a large X-ray camera looking at the star cluster of Alpha Centauri.
The rocket was expected to travel 300 km during the 15 minutes it moves through space.
This was Australia's first ever commercial rocket launch and the first in the country in a generation, since the 1995 launches from the RAAF base at Woomera.
Derek Barry
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
