This is a unique point in our nation’s history.
With geopolitical tensions increasing, the accelerated transition of global power, and a pandemic that has hit the reset button on many of the fundamental elements of our society – the need for sovereign supply of strategically critical products and services has not been greater within our lifetime.
Black Sky Aerospace (BSA) is proudly stepping up to do its part in on-shoring one of these strategically critical capabilities.
Through more than two years of continuous development and investment, BSA successfully commissioned the nation’s first large scale energetics manufacturing facility for solid propellant in mid-December 2020. Only one month later – BSA launched multiple rockets on the first batches, making history once again as the first Australian company to launch a rocket that was 100% designed and manufactured in Australia, as well as powered by sovereign manufactured solid propellant.
These launches represent a significant milestone for BSA as a company, but also for the nation as it is a strong and unequivocal statement that Australia has the capability to fly its own sovereign designed, manufactured, and powered launch vehicles.
This capability immediately disrupts dependencies on foreign providers of solid fuels for missile, rocketry and space applications, and further creating the opportunity to engage with international Defence primes to collaboratively provide guided munitions. BSA’s products are also ITAR-free to maximise responsiveness and agility.
Importantly, this capability is the foundation of high-speed, long-range weapon platforms, enabling our nation to progress towards sustainable capability overmatch through the sovereign development of leading-edge Defence technologies.
As a testament to the responsive nature of BSA’s technology, two launches were successfully completed within 45 minutes of each other. Two different propellant formulas were used in these 150mm demonstrator sub-orbital sounding rockets, signifying capabilities that suit both Space and Defence requirements. Both rockets carried customer payloads and were completely recovered less than two hours after launch.
In combination with BSA’s ability to rapidly develop aerospace vehicles, obtain launch approvals, and provide access to multiple private launch sites – Black Sky Aerospace now possesses a set of end-to-end capabilities that can deliver anything from energetics, launch vehicles and components, through to turn-key launch services carrying mission critical payloads. This provides a strategically sovereign capability to the nation, so the Australian Defence Force and its allies can have the confidence that comes with being backed by an increasingly sovereign supply-chain.
BSA’s mission is to enable Australia’s Defence and Space industries through the provision of responsive, reliable, and cost-effective products and services. With the critical addition of sovereign solid propellant manufacturing capability to our expanding arsenal, BSA is now delivering on this mission and is strongly positioned to deliver on the 2020 Defence Strategic Update and 2020 Force Structure Plan.
2020 proved to be a defining year for BSA, taking out five major awards including Defence Aerospace Business of the Year and Space Operations Business of the year. The credibility that comes with these third-party endorsements is recognition of BSA’s continual innovation, pushing the boundaries of launch technology.
Looking ahead – BSA has an extensive schedule planned for 2021. Through the scaling of launch vehicles and working with the Australian Space Agency, launches from Australia above the Karman Line under the new rules will commence for the first time from sites in Queensland and the Northern Territory with Equatorial Launch Australia (ELA). BSA’s energetics facility is already undergoing upgrades and manufacturing will see increased vertical integration to intensify throughput.
BSA offers a range of off-the-shelf Solid Rocket Motor (SRM) products to suit various mission profiles and BSA can design and manufacture energetics and SRM as white-label products to suit various mission profiles or rapid prototyping. Additionally, BSA can produce energetics under license through secure transfer of IP stored on offline servers, with manufacturing conducted in secure and safe workshops.
For more information or to book a demonstration, contact BSA at info@bsaero.space
