Venus Aerospace has set itself the goal of creating a hypersonic aircraft capable of carrying about a dozen passengers and flying at an incredibly high speed of Mach 9, or more than 11,000 km/h.

So far, no aircraft has been able to reach such a high speed. The fastest aircraft ever built – the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird – could reach a speed of Mach 3.2. The Concorde supersonic airliner traveled at Mach 2, or about 2,100 km/h. Most new generation supersonic aircraft in development today have roughly the same speed range, for example the Boom Supersonic’s cruise speed is Mach 1.7.

CTO and co-founder of Venus Aerospace, Andrew Duggleby, offers a very different profile of flight. It is assumed that after takeoff the plane will perform a 10-minute acceleration using a rocket engine. As a result, the plane will reach a height of about 50 km. – about half the distance to space. At the same time, the developers aim to achieve an operating frequency of 4 flights per day.

To achieve this goal, Venus Aerospace chose a fuel mixture for its engine: hydrogen peroxide at room temperature and Jet-A jet fuel. The company’s engineers recently achieved detonation of liquid hydrogen peroxide and Jet A, which is important for using a stable fuel mixture.

Another key component is the use of a new type of engine based on “rotating detonation” – the rotating detonation engine (RDD). Research and development has been underway around the world for more than 10 years because the technology could improve fuel economy in everything from US Navy ships to rocket engines.

In a traditional rocket engine, fuel and oxidizer are injected under high pressure into a combustion chamber, where they burn and produce an extremely energetic exhaust jet. A rotating detonation engine differs in that the detonation wave propagates through a circular channel. The process is supported by fuel and oxidizer injection and creates a shock wave that propagates outward at supersonic speeds.

In a number of countries, tests of such engines are already being conducted, demonstrating an increase in fuel economy by approximately 10%. While this may seem like a small increase, it is an important key figure for Venus Aerospace. The fact is that the weight of fuel and oxidizer is approximately 80% of the take-off weight of supersonic aircraft, so there is not much left for the design of the aircraft itself and the payload. Due to the more efficient use of fuel, it is possible to more rationally distribute the mass during take-off.

While work on the engine continues, Venus Aerospace has already begun testing drones to optimize the shape of its aircraft. A 5-foot-long (about 1.5 meter) drone recently took flight in California. By the end of this year, the company plans to create an 8-foot (about 2.4 meters) supersonic version. By the beginning of 2024, it is planned to create a drone with a VDD that will reach a flight speed of Mach 3.

Source: arstechnica