Articles
From the launchpad.
News, launches, milestones, and engineering notes.
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We Flew. Our First Commercial Mission On Mini Meggs.
Our first commercial mission on Mini Meggs is done. The engine lit, the flight was stable, and our customers' payloads came home. Here's how launch day unfolded at Red Sands.
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Why Flying Early and Often Gets You to Results Faster
Traditional access to microgravity is slow, expensive, and infrequent. High cadence suborbital changes that. Here’s why flying early and often is the fastest path to results for space tech teams and researchers.
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Designing Your First Payload: What You Need to Know Before You Fly
Everything you need to know before designing your first suborbital payload, from mechanical fit and power to data and the flight environment. A practical guide for researchers and hardware teams flying on Mini Meggs for the first time.
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TRL Explained: How Suborbital Flight Accelerates Your Path to Space
TRL, Technology Readiness Level, is the nine-point scale that separates a good idea from a commercially viable one. This post breaks down what each level means, why the jump to TRL 9 is where most hardware teams stall, and how suborbital flight is giving teams a faster, cheaper path to get there.
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Australia’s Newest Rocket Flies for Customers This March
Sunburnt Space has confirmed its March 2026 launch window live on the Aussienaut stream, marking the company’s transition from development into scheduled commercial flight. The campaign will include three Mini Meggs suborbital launches, flying real customer payloads and livestreamed publicly from White Cliffs, NSW.
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The Moment a Rocket Stops Being a Prototype
There’s a moment when a rocket stops being a prototype and starts becoming a launch service. That shift isn’t driven by technology alone, but by customers, integration work, and the responsibility to deliver flights reliably and repeatedly.
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Why Fluids Are Weird in Microgravity
In microgravity, fluids stop behaving the way we expect because gravity is no longer the dominant force. Suborbital microgravity reveals how surface tension, capillary forces, and pressure gradients take over, often exposing behaviours that never appear in a lab.
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What You Can Actually Test in Suborbital Microgravity
Suborbital microgravity is more than a demo or a novelty. It’s a real test environment that sits between the lab bench and orbit. From hardware validation to scientific research, flying early in suborbital microgravity lets teams gather real data, de-risk designs, and move faster with evidence.
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Suborbital Microgravity: How It Works, When It Happens, and Who It’s For
Suborbital microgravity doesn’t require orbit like most think. On a rocket, It occurs during the coasting phase, after engine cutoff, when the vehicle and payloads arc over apogee. This window enables real microgravity research, hardware testing, and rapid validation without the cost or timelines of orbital missions.
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How Our Rockets Come Back To Earth
Launch gets the attention, but recovery is what makes a real launch business possible. At Sunburnt Space, bringing rockets and payloads is the foundation that enables reuse, cadence, and learning from every flight.
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Why We Chose Liquid Engines and Why It Matters for the Future of Microgravity Research
We chose liquid engines from day one because they offer the control, predictability, and gentle flight conditions required for high-quality microgravity research. While solids and hybrids come with major limitations, liquids unlock throttleable, reusable, scalable propulsion. All essential for flying sensitive payloads and building toward orbital capability.
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How We Successfully Launched and Recovered Our First Rocket
Sunburnt Space Co has successfully launched and recovered its first rocket, proving the propulsion, recovery, and operational systems behind Australia’s emerging microgravity service. This milestone validates our model of affordable, repeatable access to space and sets the foundation for commercial flights beginning in 2026.
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How Space Tech Teams Can Lift Their TRL By Flying Early
Early flight time is one of the fastest ways for space teams to lift their TRL, because nothing teaches you faster than putting your hardware on a real rocket. It proves your design, gives you real data, and shows investors you’re moving forward with actual flight results.
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MiniMeggs Takes Flight at White Cliffs
We’ve successfully launched MiniMeggs, our first test rocket, from White Cliffs, NSW. The flight marks a major milestone in developing our suborbital program, proving our systems work together and bringing Australia one step closer to space.
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Firing Up: Our Engine Testing Journey So Far
On Friday 22nd August we fired our aluminium rocket engine twice: one test produced a clean 2-second burn at ~400N thrust, the other ended in a dramatic detonation that tore the engine off the stand. Both gave us exactly what we needed: proof of combustion and lessons for the next design.
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Sunburnt Space Co Hits 2,037 Metres High–Thanks to Harley Jackson
Harley Jackson, our very first Sunburnt Space Co. T-shirt customer, took our gear to new heights. Quite literally, by wearing it at Thredbo in front of the Altitude 2037m sign. From the Brookvale rocket factory to the snowfields, Harley’s support shows that Sunburnt is already climbing, with much higher altitudes still to come.
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Preparing for First Flight: Mini Meggs Walkthrough
What does it take to get a rocket ready for launch? In this behind-the-scenes walkthrough, I take you through the final prep for Mini Meggs, the subscale test rocket we’re…
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How a $20 Rocket Kit Got Me Hooked
Bought my first rocket at 17, launched it in a paddock across the road, and that was it. I was hooked. It flew a bit sideways, came down on a parachute, and lit the fuse for everything that came after.
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FRC Flight 315
Case Study – First Rock Consulting Proof of Concept – May 2025 First Rock Consulting (FRC) is working with a select group of customers that are wanting to test low-space…
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Our Progress on the Road to Space
It’s been an exciting and productive few months at Sunburnt Space Co. as we move closer to achieving our dream of launching an Australian-built rocket into space. Here’s what we’ve…
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