CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand - Just like we enjoy a range of different possible modes of transportation on Earth, the potential of the space economy allows for many different types of vehicles and launch systems. Dawn Aerospace took the wrapper off one today, a suborbital space plane called the Dawn Mk-II Aurora that’s smaller than a compact car and that will be capable of making multiple return trips to suborbital space per day, Darrell Etherington reports for TechChrunch. Continue reading original article.
The Intelligent Aerospace take:
July 30, 2020 - “The Aurora represents a massive step forward in space transportation,” said Stefan Powell, Chief Technology Officer of Dawn Aerospace. “Using the same vehicle hundreds or even thousands of times means we don’t need a factory to produce rockets. We can operate a fleet of vehicles to access space daily. And we don’t have to pollute the ocean with rocket debris as we do it.”
Test flights of the Mk-II Aurora will start in late 2020. For preliminary testing, it will be powered by two jet engines and will fly the first scientific experiments in 2021.
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Jamie Whitney, Associate Editor
Intelligent Aerospace
