Aeronautics startup Venus Aerospace has unveiled their concept for a jet plane that will carry passengers across the world in one hour.
The Texas company says their hypersonic aircraft will be capable of ‘one-hour global travel’ and they've released renderings for their plane, called the ‘Stargazer’.
In a press release, Venus Aerospace revealed they had been backed with $1 million in government funding, as well as private investors, seeing them raise $33 million to build their aircraft.
They say the aircraft will have the potential to reach Mach 9 speed, which is equivalent to nine times the speed of sound.
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For reference, hypersonic missiles used by the military travel at Mach 5.
The Venus Vehicle Engineering Team have been working on the iteration of the plane since 2020.
A spokesperson for the company said: “At Venus Aerospace we are building the world’s first Spaceplane that can fly at hypersonic speeds at the edge of the atmosphere.
"A Spaceplane that can take off from LAX and land in Tokyo in an hour, and then make the return flight to get you home for dinner."
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Imagine the remote work possibilities.
The vehicle is being designed to hold 12 passengers and travel at an altitude of 51.8 kilometres - meaning that it doesn’t technically travel into space, despite being called a ‘spaceplane’.
However, passengers are expected to still have an extraordinary view of the Earth’s curvature.
Venus claims to have ‘scaled fast’ in the last year, having designed and built its tech demonstration engine, executed key experiments at hypersonic wind tunnels and propulsion test facilities throughout the United States, and started a ground test campaign at Spaceport Houston.
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They expect to start flight testing a scaled drone of the aircraft over the next year, with the first ground test expected to happen in 2025 at the earliest.
Luckily that's just in time for the first space hotel to open.
The Venus team is full of veterans in the aerospace and military areas, with their aim to push the ‘boundaries of high-speed transportation’.
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The ‘Stargazer’ isn’t the only technology they have in development either.
Venus explains: “The team is maturing its three main technologies: a zero-emission next-generation rocket engine, innovative aircraft shape and leading-edge cooling, which allows the spaceplane to take off from existing spaceports, using existing infrastructure.
"Our team is solving the thousands of problems that make hypersonic travel possible.
"We’re engineering innovative aircraft shapes, heat shields, flight mechanics, and so much more.
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"This is all supported by our next generation zero-carbon emission hypersonic engine."
Topics: Travel, Science, Technology, Space
Jayden Collins