At the UP Summit conference in Bentonville, Arkansas, the startup Venus Aerospace introduced the design of the first supersonic vehicle called the Stargazer.
Stargazer is a Mach 9 drone and spaceplane that can fly around the world in an hour. This supersonic plane will take off from a regular airport and fly to the edge of space. The vehicle will ascend at subsonic speed before switching to supersonic speed. When completed, the Stargazer will be 46 m long, 30.5 m wide and have a takeoff weight of 68,039 kg. The vehicle can carry 12 passengers.
Stargazer will accelerate to Mach 9 (11,113 km/h) after reaching an altitude of 51,817 m, according to the company. The plane took just an hour to cover the distance that a regular plane would take in a day.
Venus Aerospace is a start-up company founded by Sarah “Sassie” Duggleby and Dr. Andrew Duggleby. The company’s goal is to build a Mach 9 supersonic aircraft that can carry passengers around the world and return within the same day. The new aircraft is the result of a design process that began when the company was born in 2020. Since then, Venus Aerospace has attracted $33 million in investment. The company’s team of experts develops three key technologies, a next-generation zero-emission rocket engine, a unique aircraft design, and high-end cooling, all aimed at enabling space aircraft to take off from existing airports and infrastructure.
“We work with NASA at Johnson Space Center and have access to information from the sonic boom test in the Space Shuttle program,” Duggleby said. “We determined that at high altitude and high speed, you won’t hear the plane’s sound. We can fly at 51,816 meters at Mach 9.”
In a short period of time, Venus Aerospace has developed and built technology demonstration engines, conducted many important tests in supersonic wind tunnels and thrust test facilities across the United States, started the ground testing at the Houston airport. Venus Aerospace will begin subsonic and supersonic flight tests with small prototypes next year.
