Two brothers from the Gold Coast are building Australia’s own path to orbit, and most people here still don’t know their name. The company is Gilmour Space, founded in 2013 by Adam and James Gilmour.
What they build
Gilmour builds the whole stack in Queensland: the Eris rocket, the ElaraSat satellite platform, and the Bowen Orbital Spaceport in North Queensland, Australia’s first licensed commercial orbital launch site.
The first launch
In July 2025, Gilmour attempted the first orbital launch from Australian soil. The 23 metre Eris rocket cleared the pad, then came down after 14 seconds of flight. The company framed it as a successful failure: the engines lit, the rocket flew, and it got real flight data.
The raise
In January, Gilmour raised $217M in a Series E at a valuation above $1B, making it Australia’s first space unicorn. The National Reconstruction Fund and Hostplus led, with the Future Fund, Blackbird, Main Sequence, QIC and others in.
Then in June, Australian Retirement Trust put in another $14.2M via QIC, taking the round to $231.2M. That landed as SpaceX was reported to be preparing a listing at a valuation of up to US$1.75 trillion, which put a lot of attention on space.
What’s next
- A 100kg ElaraSat launched on a SpaceX rideshare in June 2025 and has been operating in orbit
- A sub-orbital hypersonic test flight is planned, pending approvals
- TestFlight2 is targeted for the end of 2026
My read
From the Gold Coast to orbit is a serious ambition, and the first attempt didn’t get there. But the money keeps coming in from super funds and the government, not just VCs. That tells you people see this as national capability, not a punt. Watch this space.