New Zealand-based
Dawn Aerospace has demonstrated same-day reusability of its rocket-powered aircraft, the Mk-II Aurora, with two flights within eight hours. The flights took place from Glentanner Aerodrome on New Zealand’s South Island, both reaching speeds of Mach 0.9, 950km/h, and an altitude of 63,000ft. These were the eighth and ninth flights of the Mk-II Aurora under rocket power.
Stefan Powell, co-founder and CTO at Dawn Aerospace, said: “Rapid reusability has been termed the ‘holy grail’ for rocket-powered systems. This milestone shows that our fundamental concept will unlock performance and hypersonic flight in a platform suitable for everyday operations, not just one-off R&D.”
The Mk-II Aurora is designed to be the first vehicle ever to fly to 100km altitude, the edge of space, twice in a single day. This is equivalent performance to the first stage of an orbital class two-stage rocket. However, unlike a traditional rocket, the Aurora is certified as an aircraft using a conventional runway and without the need for exclusive airspace.
Mr Powell continued: “Being certified as an aircraft is essential to rapid reusability. Our licence permits us to fly as often as the vehicle allows. At present, we can fly every 4hr with scope to reduce turnround time further.”
These flights are part of the vehicle envelope expansion programme, intended to identify vehicle dynamics in the transonic regime as Dawn Aeospace works towards breaking the sound barrier. Demonstrating same-day reusability was a secondary goal. In the previous two test campaigns, the space pioneer demonstrated three flights in three days.
Same-day reusability is an essential part of Dawn Aerospace’s strategy for rapid iterative development, but it also makes Aurora uniquely well suited for a variety of applications in high-speed flight research, microgravity, Earth observation, atmospheric science, and is a stepping stone to the first operational hypersonic vehicles. Dawn has already signed up several US customers to fly payloads on Aurora as early as the fourth quarter of 2024.
New Zealand is well positioned to become a centre of advanced aviation and hypersonic flight tests, with access to thousands of kilometres of open skies and sea space over the South Pacific Ocean, and a regulatory regime uniquely well suited to flight tests of advanced aircraft. This advantage has been further bolstered by the establishment of the Tawhaki National Aerospace Centre, just 45min south of Dawn Aerospace’s headquarters in Christchurch.