Venus Aerospace recently announced that it will begin testing a world-leading hypersonic flight test drone as early as 2025.
The news came when the company unveiled an advanced propulsion system which has been engineered to power high-speed vehicles like drones and aircrafts.
The ‘VDR2’ was announced to the public at the Up. Summit in October, with the CTO Dr. Andrew Duggleby saying: “This 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.”
The VDR2 will take flight in Venus’ hypersonic flight test drone in 2025.
Who is Venus Aerospace – the company that will soon do a hypersonic flight test drone?
Venus Aerospace was founded in 2020 by husband-and-wife-team, Sassie Duggleby (CEO) and Andrew Duggleby (CTO) and is based in Houston, Texas. Its goal is to improve commercial flying experiences by harnessing hypersonic speeds to improve international journey times.
What does it actually mean to be “hypersonic”? Quite simply, “hypersonic” denotes speeds faster than sound can travel (specifically, up to 5x the speed of sound).
This objective may remind some people of the legacy of Concorde: British Airways’ own hypersonic aircraft that operated from 1976 to 2003. It ceased trading due to environmental, noise- and safety-related concerns.
Venus Aerospace, however, vows to be different. In a recent Forbes article, Sassie Duggleby, the CEO of Venus Aerospace CEO, championed female empowerment and longer maternity leave on top of the expected efforts to reduce carbon footprint.
While no certain trips or destinations have been shared yet, the company has dubbed its ‘Venus Stargazer M4’ as being the ‘future of hypersonic flight.’ This will be arriving in 2030.
Keen to hear more? Follow Venus Aerospace online (especially LinkedIn) and keep an eye out for their Venus Detonation Ramjet 2000lb Thrust Engine next year.
Image: Via Venus Aerospace News