Dawn Aerospace reusable rocket-powered aircraft flies twice in one day

On Oct. 4^th, Dawn Aerospace (ChristChurch, New Zealand) demonstrated same-day reusability of its rocket-powered aircraft, the Mk-II Aurora — which features a composite primary structure — with two flights within 8 hours. The flights took place from Glentanner Aerodrome on the South Island of New Zealand, both reaching speeds of Mach 0.9, 950 kilometers/hour and an altitude of 63,000 feet. These were the aircraft’s eighth and ninth flights under rocket power.  

“Rapid reusability has been termed the ‘holy grail’ for rocket-powered systems,” says Stefan Powell, CEO of Dawn Aerospace. “This milestone shows that our fundamental concept will unlock never-before-seen performance and hypersonic flight in a platform suitable for everyday operations, not just one-off research and development.”

The Mk-II Aurora is designed to fly to 100-kilometer altitude, the edge of space, twice in a single day (read “Dawn Aerospace UAV spaceplane certified for flight, develops smart COPVs”). This is equivalent performance to the first stage of an orbital class two-stage rocket. However, says the company, unlike a traditional rocket, the Aurora is certified as an aircraft using a conventional runway and without the need for exclusive airspace.

“Being certified as an aircraft is essential to rapid reusability,” adds Powell. “Our licence permits us to fly as often as the vehicle allows. At present, we can fly every 4 hours with scope to reduce turnaround time further.”

These flights are part of the vehicle envelope expansion program, intended to identify vehicle dynamics in the transonic regime as Dawn works towards breaking the sound barrier. Demonstrating same-day reusability was a secondary goal. In the previous two test campaigns, the company has demonstrated three flights in 3 days.

Same-day reusability is an essential part of Dawn’s strategy for rapid iterative development, but it also makes Aurora 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 U.S. customers to fly payloads on Aurora as early as Q4 2024.