A passenger aircraft that flies around the world at Mach 9? Sure, why not

News Summary

  • The company's engineers also recently achieved liquid peroxide and Jet A detonation, which is important for using a stable fuel composition.One key to making all of this work is using a new type of engine based on "rotating detonation."
  • Oh, and they're aiming for an airport-like operational cadence of four flights a day.To that end, the company recently decided on a fuel mix for its engine: room-temperature hydrogen peroxide and Jet-A, the fuel used by a majority of jet aircraft already flying at airports.
  • "It allows us to truly build a vehicle that is like an airplane," Andrew Duggleby said.At the same time Venus Aerospace is working on its rocket engine, the company has also begun testing drones to refine the shape of its plane.
  • Venus aims to go supersonic with an 8-foot drone before the end of this year and hit Mach 3 by early 2024 with a rotating detonation engine.The company has about 80 full-time employees and 20 contractors, the majority of whom work at the company's hangar at the Houston Spaceport.
  • We did not have to go far, maybe 50 meters, because the prototype engine designed and built by his small engineering team is not that large.We waited for a few minutes before steam began to hiss out of the engine.
  • A rotating detonation engine is different in that a wave of detonation travels around a circular channel.
Enlarge/ Concept art of Venus Aerospaces Stargazer aircraft.5 with HOUSTON SPACEPORTOn a cloudy day in late March, Andrew Duggleby guided me a safe distance away from a rocket engine. We did not [+5104 chars]