The VS03 mission’s Kestrel I rocket at the Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex.

ATSpace has announced that it aims to launch two Kestrel I rocket missions from Southern Launch’s Whalers Way facility in South Australia before the end of December.

A recent planned launch for November had to be postponed due to severe weather.

The new plan follows investigations which showed that lightning damage sustained by the VS03 rocket was not as bad as first feared.

“We were very pleased to discover that the repairs required to the VS03 rocket were minimal,” said Dr YenSen Chen, CEO of ATSpace.

“We always planned to launch the VS02 rocket in 2022 and it is fantastic that we can attempt to combine the two missions to be consecutive launches.”

The potential launch of the two closely spaced consecutive missions has required approval from regulatory bodies at local, state and federal levels.

Southern Launch says it has worked with the South Australian Country Fire Service (CFS) to prepare a launch site that exceeds regulatory requirements, adding that the CFS has thoroughly assessed the safety of its launch activities and has provided permits to conduct the launches during fire ban season.

“We have invested significantly in developing in-house firefighting capability and fire suppression systems for the launch pad at the Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex,” said Southern Launch CEO, Lloyd Damp.

“The launch trajectory for both potential missions is over the Southern Ocean which further minimises the risk of fire.”

ATSpace was founded in Australia in January 2021 and is a sibling of the Taiwanese company, TiSPACE.