Venus Aerospace’s supersonic flight test drone has completed its first flight.
The test, which was done on February 24 demonstrated part of Venus Aerospace’s Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE) propulsion system during flight for the first time.
Houston, Texas-based startup Venus was founded in 2020 and is developing hypersonic drones and aircraft that will use the RDRE. A rotating detonation engine (RDE) is similar to a pulse detonation engine (PDE), but while PDE requires the chambers to be purged after each pulsed detonation of a fuel and oxidizer mixture, in an RDE the waves cycle around the combustion chamber in a self-sustaining process.
The 8ft, 300 lbs (1,360kg) drone was dropped from a carrier aircraft at an altitude of 12,000ft and accelerated to a top speed of Mach 0.9, (690mph), flying for 10 miles (16km). The drone was powered by a hydrogen peroxide monopropellant engine at 80% thrust so as not to exceed Mach 1.
The test successfully demonstrated flight controls, stability, one leg of the ultimate RDRE propulsion system, telemetry, ground operations, and air launch.
Andrew Duggleby, chief technical officer and co-founder of Venus Aerospace said, “Using an air-launched platform and a rocket-with-wing configuration allows us to cheaply and quickly get to the minimum viable test of our RDRE as a hypersonic engine. The team executed with professionalism and has a wealth of data to anchor and tweak for the next flight.”
Sarah Duggleby, CEO and co-founder of Venus Aerospace said, “This is how you do hard things, one bite at a time. Up next is RDRE flight, and ultimately hypersonic flight, proving that the RDRE is the engine that unlocks the hypersonic economy.”
Venus is developing Stargazer, a reusable hypersonic passenger-carrying spaceplane capable of of Mach 9 (6900 mph). The concept for Stargazer sees the spaceplane taking off, reaching an altitude of 170,000ft and then achieving hypersonic speeds during cruise.
Modern R&D into PD and RDEs is ongoing for spaceflight and hypersonic air vehicles. Russia’s Rostec group claimed a breakthrough in PDE technology in 2021, and progress was reported by researchers into RDE at the University of Washington in 2020. GE Aerospace is also working on a type of RDE at a site in Niskayuna, New York after purchasing a company called Innoveering in 2022.
Several companies around the world are working on hypersonic-capable drones and aircraft, with most currently focused entirely on developing hypersonic=capable propulsion systems.
