Type Private Founder Adam Gilmour | Industry Aerospace Number of employees 20 - 40 | |
Headquarters Pimpama, Queensland, Australia Key people Adam Gilmour
James Gilmour | ||
Gilmour Space Technologies, also known as GS Tech or GST, was created in 2012 to develop solutions for space exploration. Its current research and development is on Hybrid Rocket engines.
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3D-printed solid rocket motors
The company is developing solid rocket motors using hydrogen peroxide as the oxidiser and PE plastic and wax as the solid fuel, using a dual material 3D printer developed in collaboration with Singapore University of Technology and Design with funding from NAMIC (National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Cluster) Singapore.
The company has conducted a number of successful ground tests of engines in the 300Lb and 900Lb thrust class and flight tested the 300Lb engine. The company is also working on a variant of the 300Lb motor for cubesat in-space propulsion.
Eris launch vehicle
Gilmour Space technology is working on a satellite launch vehicle designed to launch 380 kg into low Earth orbit, for initial test flights in late 2019.
Mars Aqua Retrieval System (MARS)
In the beginning of 2015, a team of undergraduates from the pioneer batch of Singapore University of Technology and Design took on an industry challenge to explore the idea of water extraction on planets such as Mars. The main motivation of the project was to reduce logistical complexity and demonstrate the possibility for deeper space exploration and the colonization of Mars.
The project takes a form of a rover fitted with a module to extract water from beneath the ground without contact, a module that uses the Martian environment to collect and store water during operation and a system that enables feedback and control of the rover. Simulations like FEA and interference checks were constantly carried out to ensure the prototype was fully functional on Earth and could withstand at least 30% of the harsh Martian climate. Modules were placed in vacuum chambers to determine effects of vacuum on electromechanical parts and point measurements were made throughout the system to check for radiation leakage.
The project has been featured in several notable news agencies such as Gizmag and Metro UK. On 23 August 2016, the team participated in the ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference (IDETC/CIE) at Charlotte, North Carolina, United States and won the Grand Prize. This project has also garnered deep interest from NASA and the Mars Society.
The rover currently resides permanently at the product showcase area of the SUTD-MIT International Design Center. Plans are being made to retrofit the rover to be capable of intercontinental teleoperation as a training tool for space robotic operators.