date of publication:
June 26, 2022 9:34 GMT
Update date: June 26, 2022 9:50 GMT
The US Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched a rocket from the remote desert in northern Australia on Sunday evening, in the first commercial launch into space in Australia and the agency’s first from a commercial spaceport.
The semi-orbital missile will be seen briefly seconds after launch, scheduled for 13:44 GMT, and will travel 300 kilometers into space.
“Australia’s arid environment and proximity to the equator provide ideal conditions for space launches,” said Australian National University astrophysicist Brad Tucker, who will be within 400 meters of the launch pad at the Arnhem Space Center.
He added, “There are not many places close to the equator like Arnhem, which is only 12 degrees away from it, and there are not particularly places near the equator where the air is dry and stable… Florida, where Cape Canaveral is located, is somewhat swampy.” , referring to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
NASA said, “3 launches from Arnhem Space Center in June and July will help it explore how the light of a star can affect the habitability of any planet.”
“Today’s mission will carry detectors to measure X-rays produced by the hot gases that fill the space between stars to help study how they affect the formation and evolution of galaxies,” NASA said in a statement.
The second and third missions in July will observe Alpha Centauri, the closest star to Earth, and the closest to the Southern Cross constellation that appears on the Australian flag, Tucker said. The constellation and Alpha Centauri can only be seen in the sky of the southern hemisphere.”
“The big goal is to find out if there are Earth-like planets around it,” he added.
“Scientists have been waiting for ten years to launch a missile from the southern hemisphere, and it will be visible for 10-50 seconds,” he said.
“After 100 seconds of launch, the scientific teams will start working and you will have control of the telescope on board … and you will know immediately how successful it is,” Tucker said.
NASA is the first customer of the commercial spaceport operated by Equatorial Launch Australia, and 70 NASA employees have traveled to Australia for the three missions.
The payload and the missile will return to Earth this evening, too.