‘Groundbreaking’ flights six-times faster than speed of sound one step closer as new engine unveiled

An aerospace company has unveiled a new hypersonic engine, which it says makes a “major breakthrough” in high-speed flight.

Venus Aerospace, a Texas-based company focused on making hypersonic travel a reality, has announced they are producing an advanced propulsion engine that could power high-speed vehicles, including drones and aircraft.

Hypersonic technology is not a new phenomenon – it has been introduced in military sectors such as ballistic missiles, space expeditions such as space shuttles and capsules, as well as Nasa’s X-plane experimental aircraft.

However, the introduction of hypersonic travel into commercial flights has yet to be propelled into reality, whereas supersonic ventures such as the British-French Concorde have made it into the air but not flown since 2003.

The company hopes that this engine, called the Venus Detonation Ramjet 2,000lb Thrust Engine, also known as ‘VDR2’, will enable vehicles to travel long distances at high altitudes, all while achieving ‘high-mach’ speed – a rate that is faster than the speed of sound.

Venus Aerospace said that the VDR2 would offer a single engine that can go as fast as Mach 6, which is six times the speed of sound, or 3,600mph.

The company says that the engine should be able to sustain efficient cruising at Mach 4 on journeys of up to 5,000 miles, and will be designed for takeoff and landing at various airports with a 30-minute turnaround time.

The ”groundbreaking” product was unveiled at Up.Summit, a gathering in the US state of Arkansas for investors and industry leaders in the transport sector.

Andrew Duggleby, the co-founder of Venus Aerospace, spoke at the summit, saying that the engine “makes the hypersonic economy a reality.”

“We are excited to partner with Velontra to achieve this revolution in high-speed flight, given their expertise in high-speed air combustion."

Eric Briggs, Velontra’s chief operating officer, said: "We can’t wait to dig in, make the first one fly, and ultimately perfect an engine concept that has lived mostly in textbooks but never as a production unit in the air,"

"We couldn’t think of a better partner than Venus. Rocketry pioneers in their own right and ready to tackle the hard problems, we are eager to fly the same path with them."

Both Venus Aerospace and Velontra said that by combining their technologies, they hope to take steps towards high-speed flight in both the commercial and defence sectors.

Combining technologies allows both Venus Aerospace and Velontra to take tangible steps toward their shared vision of unlocking the high-speed flight economy in the commercial and defence sectors.

Venus Aerospace hope to test its engine by 2025 using a drone to take its first flight, yet the production of its first hypersonic commercial plane, the Venus Stargazer M400, however, may not be arriving until the 2030s.

While many may dream of getting on a flight that would transport them between some of the world’s major cities within a blink of an eye, such as the 3,461-mile-long flight between London and New York that, on average, takes around eight hours, but could get there in under an hour if it reached Mach 6 speeds.

Yet, it is unclear when a fully realised hypersonic commercial plane could become a reality.

Simon Calder, travel correspondent at The Independent – and one of a dwindling number of people who flew on Concorde – said: “I look forward to travelling to the hyperport using my personal jetpack. But perhaps not for a few more decades.

“The absurd costs – environmental as well as financial – involved in flying faster than the speed of sound make it extremely unlikely that London-New York in an hour will be a reality any time in this half-century.”

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