Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex is a proposed

rocket A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...

-launching facility operated by

Southern Launch Southern Launch (incorporated as SouthernLaunch.space Pty Ltd) is an Australian space company providing infrastructure and logistics support for orbital and sub-orbital launches of satellites and space payloads. Facilities Southern Launch is ...

at Whalers Way, in the locality of

Sleaford Sleaford is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. Centred on the former parish of New Sleaford, the modern boundaries and urban area include Quarrington, Lincolnshire, ...

near

Port Lincoln Port Lincoln is a town on the Lower Eyre Peninsula in the Australian state of South Australia. It is situated on the shore of Boston Bay, which opens eastward into Spencer Gulf. It is the largest city in the West Coast region, and is located a ...

on South Australia's

Eyre Peninsula The Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded by the Spencer Gulf on the east, the Great Australian Bight on the west, and the Gawler Ranges to the north. Originally called Eyre’s Peninsula, it was named aft ...

History of the project

Southern Launch established its headquarters in Adelaide in 2018, before the city was announced as home for the

Australian Space Agency The Australian Space Agency is an agency under the Australian Government responsible for the development of Australia's commercial space industry, coordinating domestic activities, identifying opportunities and facilitating international spac ...

. Its offices are located in

Pirie Street Pirie Street is a road on the east side of the Adelaide city centre, South Australia. It runs east–west, between East Terrace and King William Street. After crossing King William Street, it continues as Waymouth Street. It forms the southern ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. The launchpad at Whalers Way was publicly announced in December 2018, with Southern Launch leading the project. The project was declared a major development by the state of South Australia on 22 August 2019, and on 23 October 2019 Southern Launch made a joint announcement with

Perigee Aerospace Perigee Aerospace is a private developer and manufacturer of orbital and sub-orbital launch vehicles located in Daejeon, South Korea. The company was formally established in 2018, but work began in 2012, initially with the launch of sounding roc ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

about the launch of the "Blue Whale 1" rocket from the Whalers Way facility. The facility was officially approved by the

on 14 July 2021, intended for use to launch commercial satellites. Southern Launch planned to build two launch pads for orbital launches to

polar Polar may refer to: Geography Polar may refer to: * Geographical pole, either of two fixed points on the surface of a rotating body or planet, at 90 degrees from the equator, based on the axis around which a body rotates * Polar climate, the c ...

and

sun-synchronous orbit A Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), also called a heliosynchronous orbit, is a nearly polar orbit around a planet, in which the satellite passes over any given point of the planet's surface at the same local mean solar time. More technically, it is ...

s. Pad 1 was expected to host up to three test launches by the end of 2021.

Launches

When fully operational, it is anticipated that around 25 launches a year will take place at Whalers Way.

became the first customer with a planned launch of its rocket "Blue Whale 1" in July 2020. However, this had not been launched by late August. On 16 September 2021, 06:39 UTC the Taiwanese TiSPACE-company's Hapith I rocket (flight VS01) launched from Whalers Way Pad 1 on a suborbital test flight, after two aborted launches. This was the maiden flight of Hapith I and first of three test launches from Pad 1 at Whalers Way. The flight suffered a launch failure at ignition, causing the rocket to catch fire. The intended apogee of the flight was , and as

payload Payload is the object or the entity which is being carried by an aircraft or launch vehicle. Sometimes payload also refers to the carrying capacity of an aircraft or launch vehicle, usually measured in terms of weight. Depending on the nature of ...

the rocket carried an Ionosphere Scintillation Package for the Taiwanese

National Space Organization The National Space Organization (NSPO or NSO) is the national civilian space agency of the Republic of China (Taiwan), part of the National Applied Research Laboratories under the auspices of the Ministry of Science and Technology (Taiwan), ...

, for the purpose of

Ionospheric scintillation In astronomy, interplanetary scintillation refers to random fluctuations in the intensity of radio waves of celestial origin, on the timescale of a few seconds. It is analogous to the twinkling one sees looking at stars in the sky at night, but in ...

research. Two more test launches of the vehicle, conducted by ATSpace under the Kestrel I name, are scheduled for late 2022.

Environmental concerns

Concerns have been raised by

environmentalist An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that se ...

s from the

Nature Conservation Society of South Australia Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are p ...

(NCSSA) and

Traditional Owners Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have rights ...

the Nauo people , as

threatened species Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensa ...

such as the southern emu wren and

white-bellied whipbird The white-bellied whipbird (''Psophodes leucogaster''), also called the Mallee whipbird, is a species of bird in the family Psophodidae. It is endemic to southern Australia. Taxonomy The species was formerly considered as a subspecies of ''Psop ...

inhabit the area , which could be affected by the noise, and there are places of cultural significance to the Nauo people.

Environmental impact assessment Environmental Impact assessment (EIA) is the assessment of the environmental consequences of a plan, policy, program, or actual projects prior to the decision to move forward with the proposed action. In this context, the term "environmental imp ...

s were being undertaken as of May 2021, with plans to modify the site and implement mitigation strategies should problems be found. Southern Launch has committed to protecting nature and managing tourism activities to ensure that the environment will be preserved. Protests took place at the site ahead of the first scheduled launch on 9 September 2021, after whales were reported swimming in Fishery Bay, east of the maritime exclusion zone, and police attended. Whales were later confirmed 30km away in Boston Bay, and none observed in Fishery Bay. Local residents and conservationists, including the Nature Conservation Society, Wilderness Society,

Conservation Council of South Australia The Conservation Council of South Australia, also known as Conservation SA and Conservation Council SA, is an environmental organisation serving as a peak body, representing over 50 member groups, representing over 90,000 individual members, in t ...

, the

National Trust of Australia The National Trust of Australia, officially the Australian Council of National Trusts (ACNT), is the Australian national peak body for community-based, non-government non-profit organisations committed to promoting and conserving Australia's Ind ...

(SA),

Birds SA The South Australian Ornithological Association (SAOA), also known as Birds SA, is an Australian birding organisation based in Adelaide, South Australia. The SAOA publishes a journal, the ''South Australian Ornithologist'' as well as the ''Birds ...

and Trees for Life have been calling for an independent review. An

ecologist Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

from the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...

and the NCSSA are concerned that the extensive clearing ( of vegetation) and construction work involved in expanding the facility could cause the southern emu wren to become extinct. Southern Launch CEO Lloyd Damp said he was aware of the issues, and they were in the process of working out a better location for launch site A. The expansion plans are under review by the

Government of South Australia The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government, SA Government or more formally, His Majesty’s Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of South Australia. It is modelled o ...

's PlanSA, as well as the

Commonwealth Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government i ...

for compliance with the ''

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 The ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and cultu ...

'' (EPBC Act). Public consultation that closed in September showed strong support from the surrounding communities of Port Lincoln and Tulka, the results of which are yet to be released . In early October, a rare

square-tailed kite The square-tailed kite (''Lophoictinia isura'') is a medium-sized bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as kites, eagles and harriers. Taxonomy German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup descr ...

was photographed at the site, but it is thought likely that it was a chick from a nest a long distance away. The last time one was spotted on the Eyre Peninsula was in 2004.

References

{{reflist Rocket launch sites Eyre Peninsula

History of the project

Launches

Environmental concerns

See also

References