German launch company HyImpulse has signed an agreement with Australia’s Southern Launch to explore the possibility of launching its SL1 rocket from Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex in Australia.
In May, HyImpulse launched the inaugural flight of its suborbital SR75 rocket from the Southern Launch Koonibba Test Range. The flight had initially been expected to be launched from SaxaVord in Scotland, but delays in the construction of the facility forced the company to look elsewhere for a host.
On 6 June, Southern Launch announced that it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with HyImpulse for the launch of additional SR75 missions from Koonibba. The agreement also included provisions for the pair to explore the possibility of launching orbital flights aboard the HyImpulse SL1 rocket from Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex on the south coast of Australia.
The three-stage SL1 rocket is designed to deliver payloads of up to 600 kilograms to low Earth orbit. The rocket utilizes hybrid propulsion technology that employs a paraffin-based solid fuel and liquid oxygen to generate thrust.
In November 2023, HyImpulse signed an agreement with SaxaVord to host SL1 launches from the facility from late 2025 onwards. The company was also one of several companies preselected by CNES in July 2022 to utilize a new commercial launch site that is being built at the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana. Whalers Way now makes three launch facilities from which HyImpulse has expressed interest in launching orbital missions aboard its SL1 rocket.
