Dawn Aerospace Spaceplane Ready for Rocket Powered Flight After Completing 48 Flights Using Jet Engines
Christchurch, New Zealand (Dawn Aerospace PR) — Dawn Aerospace has completed 48 flights over last 13 months of their spaceplane technology demonstrator, The Mk-II Aurora, to complete Phase One testing of the vehicle using surrogate jet engines. Tests of the vehicle under rocket power are expected before the end of the year.
Phase One demonstrated all non-rocket systems on the spaceplane such as low speed aerodynamic performance, pilot controllability, reliability and general airworthiness. The spaceplane was flown as fast as 200 knots (370 km/h) and 9000ft altitude, although high speed and altitude were not primary goals.
“This test phase has shown that the basic design is extremely capable, but above all, safe. It was also a key step to show that the team is ready to take on the challenge of rocket-powered flight,” CFO and Mk-II Chief Engineer James Powell says.
In Phase two of the test program the Mk-II Aurora will be fitted with a rocket motor which will allow for flights to over 100km altitude and 3500km/h. If achieved, it would be the first vehicle to ever to reach space twice in a day – “a Wright Brothers moment for reusable spaceflight” says Stefan Powell, CEO.
The Mk-II is intended to prove the core technology needed for a fully and rapidly reusable first stage booster.
Once the Mk-II Aurora is proven under rocket power, a much larger Mk-III vehicle will be built, with the capability to deliver a 250kg satellite into orbit using a second stage released at high altitude.
“Rapid reusability is the key to cost effective spaceflight” said Stefan Powell, “Operating under aviation law, and with a vehicle that is an aircraft first, and a rocket second, allows us to unlock the powers of fleet economics. We can replace an entire rocket factory with a few aircraft that operate daily”.
Phase One test flights were conducted under aircraft certification, specifically Civil Aviation Authority Part 102. As of September, all test goals were achieved, including a “pseudo-rocket powered flight” where the aircraft was flown at full thrust and a high pitch angle to moderate altitude before having the engines intentionally set to idle, mimicking main engine cut-off. Thereafter, the aircraft was brought into land using only manoeuvres and air brakes to control airspeed, similar to what will be done after re-entry from high altitude.
Glide landings were repeated several times as part of the team’s final flight training before the spaceplane will be fitted with a rocket motor. In addition to substantial simulator testing, these tested served as confirmation that the team is ready for rocket powered flight
“As a clean sheet design, there were naturally many aspects that were unproven. The combination of simulation and real testing is critical in achieving a safe and successful campaign.” said CFO and Mk-II Chief Engineer James Powell.
Phase one also demonstrated key operational aspects of the spaceplane, including rapid reusability, up to four flights in a day, and flights under aviation law.
“We are on the path to revolutionising how we access space. The ability to rapidly reuse a launch vehicle reduces costs by 90 per cent, hence it has always been the holy grail of affordable, frequent space flight” says James Powell.
The Mk-II rocket engine is a liquid propellant rocket motor, developed by Dawn Aerospace. It uses the non-cryogenic fuels hydrogen peroxide and kerosene which aircraft storable, unlike typical rocket fuels like liquid oxygen. The engine, which is in the final stages of qualification, is designed for rapid restarts without the replacement of igniters or other maintenance.
Test flights of the Mk-II under rocket power are anticipated before the end of the year.
About Dawn Aerospace
Based in New Zealand, the Netherlands, and the United States, Dawn Aerospace’s mission is to enable the next generation of space users by providing dramatically more scalable and sustainable ways to access and move around in space. It is a leading supplier of turnkey green propulsion systems for CubeSat, ESPA, and ESPA Grande-class satellites. Dawn is also active in reusable launch vehicle development, with an active test flight programme of the Mk-II Aurora spaceplane demonstrator.
25 responses to “Dawn Aerospace Spaceplane Ready for Rocket Powered Flight After Completing 48 Flights Using Jet Engines”
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Interesting. They’ve got a long way to go, but good luck
I always thought a flyback booster with wet wings filled with RP-1, and the cylindrical section filled with LOX would make for a interesting glide back booster.
My personal favorite is the glide back for gas-n-go turnaround. Second stages at Mach 3-5, above 100,000 feet depending on operational factors. Second stage recovery as far downrange as feasible with helicopters recovery to airport back to launch site. Expendable third as small and cheap as reasonably possible.
One big advantage of air launch is all-azimuth capability over open water. But arranging for helicopter recovery waaaay downrange on an arbitrary azimuth is tough unless you happen to own a surplus LHA or LHD.
Actually first stage could be VTVL reaching Mach 3 or better at ~150,000 feet or so such that staging is at low dynamic pressure. Second stage catch probably transatlantic offshore in proximity to an airport. Lot of airports in Europe and Africa, not to mention all the island groups. Helicopter to airport with stage flown back to launch site. Helicopter moves to next catch zone.
So a 1st stage goes to Mach 3 and a 2nd stage goes to Mach 5? That leaves a 3rd stage to add 20 more Mach numbers to make LEO. I don’t see how this works. Compared to that, any helicopter logistics problems are small beer anyway.
Second stage to Mach 10-20 depending on available airports at good azimuths downrange. And on the retrieval/return logistics. And on reentry and refurbishment issues.
The idea is that the first stage is to Mach 3-5 with RTLS dictated by gas-n-go operations several flights a day per stage. Mass ratio under 3 and robust rather than bleeding edge anything. Weight insensitive.
Second stage covers 10-15 Mach numbers depending on difficulty of retrieving the stage and reentry penalties. Looking for the sweet spot that allows it to be caught in the air and flown to and airport. Loaded on a company plane and flown back to the launch site. Maximum velocity limited by the ability to check out TPS and critical systems and fly the stages daily. Shrouds permanently attached. Mass ratio under 4. Size restricted by recovery economics.
Third stage expendable and cheap. Perhaps 5-7 Mach numbers to LEO so mass ratio under 2 and possibly part of the payload. Or mass ratio under 5 for TLI/GTO flights. Assuming hydrocarbon stages.
Not a suggestion for the players out there. Just a personal favorite idea.
Too bad for ill-fated XCOR. They ran with that good idea.
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
Yes, but they insisted on having a human pilot, driving their costs up, one of many mistakes they made in their business strategy.
Seems to me that the “mistakes” which sunk XCOR were from financial weaknesses, not from engineering choices. It also seems to me they were more the victim of bad luck in the marketplace than anything they did wrong. Small companies are awfully vulnerable to getting squashed in the chaos and rough and tumble of capitalism.
I don’t think making Xerus manned was a mistake either. Remember, the aim of the Lynx project was more suborbital tourism than as a microsat launcher. Lynx seems a lot more practical engineering for suborbital tourism, than the direction Virgin Galactic took with Space Ship 2.
Looks like Lynx did not have a wet wing after all. So much for my memory of that project!
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
The mistakes they made were financial, ignoring opportunities for near term cash flow from IP and doing demo flights with their rocket E-Z-Flyer and Rocket Racer designs while focusing on the Lynx. Yes, the Lynx was a better design for Sub-Orbital tourism, but that seems to be a market where the price folks are willing to pay are far short of the cost of providing the service.
As Jim Collins demonstrates in his book “ Great by Choice” luck is basically neutral, it’s how you respond to it that makes it good or bad.
Speaking of luck, it appears that a hurricane is going to force NASA to take SLS back to the VAB.
Well, this was when Venture Capitalists were fleeing the Very Light Jet/Air Taxi folks to invest in computer start ups with almost no overhead.
Venture vultures hat aerospace…that’s only just beginning to change.
I want a Buran-type version of this…top-mount on SuperHeavy with this as a shroud:
https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/ab…
Jets for self-ferry…comes back from space not a dead stick glider…but a full airplane.
Baikal comeback
Did Baikal store fuel in the pivot wings? A delta wing can have an appreciable volume to carry fuel to provide impulse to overcome the excess drag.
Well Baikal was never really built, they kept tinkering with the design. I don’t think they planned to have fuel in the wings specifically
For the layman:
http://www.russianspaceweb….
Power it with three F-1s and I’ll bet Gary Church would sign on.
Hahahahha. Probably.
Now that you can three-D print HIGH QUALITY titanium and steel—why not?
https://techxplore.com/news…
https://techxplore.com/news…
https://phys.org/news/2022-…
A blurb from this story
https://phys.org/news/2022-…
You can take pure copper, and by the use of nanosized grains, make it as strong as some steels.
Nuytco’s Exosuit
2000 used once classified submarine steels:
https://www.macleans.ca/new…
After retirement I do want to go into business for myself and hope to make enough money to get into the 3d metal print business. I’ve been an amateur machinist for 20 years now including CNC, so I’m really looking forward to expanding my manufacturing capabilities.
Maybe spaceship minis no cat can break…sigh
I see lots of good military applications for this if it works out.
How big? How heavy?
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
18 MT max T/O? Hrm…
That’s 50% heavier than the SR.177?
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
All of a sudden Kiwis just decide they can fly after all