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And I do provide unique value. Fifteen years ago I said NASA's SLS rocket was garbage and should be cancelled. Almost a decade ago I said its Orion capsule was a lie and a bad idea. As early as 1998, long before almost anyone else, I predicted in my first book, Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8, that private enterprise and freedom would conquer the solar system, not government. And while everyone else in the media still thinks Mars has no water, I have been reporting the real results from the orbiters now for more than five years, that Mars is in fact a planet largely covered with ice.

 

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Australian rocket startup Gilmour Space raises $145 million in investment capital

Eris rocket launch and failure
Gilmour’s Eris rocket falling sideways from launchpad
(indicated by red dot) in July 2025. Click for much better
video.

The Australian rocket startup Gilmour Space, whose one orbital test launch in 2025 failed, has now raised an additional A$217 million ($145 million American) in investment capital, in addition to the A$142 million it had previously raised.

The Series E round was jointly led by the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC) and Hostplus, with participation from Future Fund, Blackbird, Funds SA, HESTA, NGS Super, Main Sequence, QIC, and Brighter Super.

…Proceeds from the raise will be used to support continued development and qualification of its Eris orbital launch vehicle, scale rocket and satellite manufacturing, expand test and launch infrastructure, and grow the company’s workforce to meet global demand for space launch services.

The National Reconstruction Fund Corporation is a government agency with a A$15 billion budget tasked to help finance new industries. It contributed A$75 million in this fund raising round.

The other major contributor was Hostplus, which matched that contribution.

Though the company has said it will attempt a second orbital test launch in 2026, no dates have been announced.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 

The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

5 comments

  • Dick Eagleson

    Oz came quite late to the launch game but it has apparently decided to kit out its player in big league fashion.

  • Mike Borgelt

    I’m not impressed. Taxpayers’ money plus Australians’ retirement funds.
    “Super” means superannuation which is what your retirement funds are called in Australia. Employees contribute compulsorily about 10% rising to 12.5% of wages/salaries. Set up 35 plus years ago by one of our socialist Prime Ministers. The money is managed by the various funds which have Big Union representatives on the Boards which was the point in creating “jobs for the boys”.
    If self employed you can do your own investments and manage them yourself in a “Self Managed Super Fund” which has certain tax advantages. I’m glad I’m in that situation.
    I’m not putting anything into hybrid launch vehicles.

  • Mike Borgelt

    Australia actually launched a satellite back in 1967. Third nation to do so from its own territory. Unfortunately Australians and their governments are too lazy to follow through (see America’s Cup). Government has other agendas like grifting and looting the population.

  • Jeff Wright

    To Mike

    Oh, but hybrids don’t explode…..they just burst….right Mr. Branson? Hello?

  • I am impressed that a company could raise that kind of money, when the only launch footage is of a rocket going sideways.

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