Date: 4th October 2024
Location: Christchurch, New Zealand

Dawn Aerospace, proudly announces it has demonstrated same-day reusability of their rocket-powered aircraft, the Mk-II Aurora, 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, 950km/h, and an altitude of 63,000 ft. These were the 8th and 9th flights of the Mk-II Aurora under rocket power.  

“Rapid reusability has been termed the “holy grail” for rocket-powered systems,” said Stefan Powell. “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 be the first vehicle ever to fly to 100 km altitude, the edge of space, twice in a single day. This is equivalent performance to the first stage of an orbital class two-stage rocket. However, 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,” said Stefan 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 Dawn has demonstrated three flights in three days.

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

New Zealand is well poised to become a centre of advanced aviation and hypersonic flight tests, with access to thousands of km of open skies and sea space over the South Pacific Ocean, and a regulatory regime uniquely well suited to flight test of advanced aircraft. This advantage has been further bolstered by the establishment of the Tawhaki National Aerospace Centre, just 45 minutes south of Dawn HQ in Christchurch, New Zealand.   

Stefan concluded with “The pace of development at Dawn is astounding right now. The team is moving at lightspeed and crushing tough goals. I am super proud of them. It’s an exciting time to be at the cutting edge of high-performance aircraft!”

GALLERY