$3 Million Investment Boosts Composite Rocket Tank Research

Research that could cut space travel cost by 25 per cent has received a $3 million boost from the Australian Government.

A Gilmour Space Technologies, University of Southern Queensland (USQ) and Teakle Composites project to create lightweight rocket fuel tanks were included in the latest round of the Cooperative Research Centres Projects (CRC-P) grants.

The project is a $12.5 million investment by the consortium with support from the Federal Government in order to design, develop and manufacture flight-ready cryo tanks.

It brings industry and academia together to use advanced robotic filament winding using exotic materials suited to the extreme operating conditions of space. The new carbon fibre cryo tanks have the potential for up to 30 per cent weight saving and 25 per cent cost saving.

We are grateful to receive this funding, which will allow us to develop world-class composite materials and components for our orbital launch vehicles – making our rockets more efficient and reducing the cost of access to space

Gilmour Space, a Gold Coast-based rocket company, signed a strategic agreement with USQ in 2019 to collaborate on advanced rocket technology research.