{"id":630760,"date":"2024-08-13T18:25:06","date_gmt":"2024-08-13T15:25:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/dawn-aerospace-is-proving-that-spaceplanes-arent-rocket-science\/"},"modified":"2024-08-13T18:25:06","modified_gmt":"2024-08-13T15:25:06","slug":"dawn-aerospace-is-proving-that-spaceplanes-arent-rocket-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/dawn-aerospace-is-proving-that-spaceplanes-arent-rocket-science\/","title":{"rendered":"#Dawn Aerospace is proving that spaceplanes aren\u2019t rocket science"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a25db0fcdec4\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a25db0fcdec4\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/dawn-aerospace-is-proving-that-spaceplanes-arent-rocket-science\/#An_aircraft_with_the_performance_of_a_rocket\" >An aircraft with the performance of a rocket<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/dawn-aerospace-is-proving-that-spaceplanes-arent-rocket-science\/#Lean_mean_R_D\" >Lean, mean R&amp;D<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<div id=\"article-main-content\">\n                            <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dawn Aerospace is a small startup with big ambitions: to build the first vehicle <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to fly over 100 km above the Earth \u2014 twice in one day. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A couple of weeks back, the budding company \u2014 headquartered in the Netherlands and New Zealand \u2014 took a major step toward that goal. Its reusable, rocket-powered Mk-II Aurora aircraft reached speeds of <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mach 0.92 (967 km\/h) at altitudes over 15km.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While far from its eventual target, that is three times the speed and five times the height of its previous test, conducted last year. The startup has more flights scheduled for September, where it plans to blast past Mach 1 \u2014 the speed of sound. And it\u2019s not stopping there.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Dawn Aerospace, Mk-II Aurora, Flight 53 to Mach 0.9, 50,000ft.\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" srcdoc=\"&lt;style&gt;*{padding:0;margin:0;overflow:hidden}html,body{background:#000;height:100%}img{position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;object-fit:cover;transition:opacity .1s cubic-bezier(0.4,0,1,1)}a:hover img+img{opacity:1!important}&lt;\/style&gt;&lt;a href=\" https:=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/S0sJZbVcdRw\/hqdefault.jpg\" style=\"top: 50%;left:50%;width:68px;height:48px;transform:translate3d(-50%,-50%,0)\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"inarticle-wrapper channel-cta\">\n<div class=\"ica-text\">\n<p class=\"ica-text__title\">TNW Conference 2025 &#8211; Back to NDSM on June 19-20, 2025 &#8211; Save the date!<\/p>\n<p>As we wr<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ed up our incredible 2024 edition, we&#8217;re pleased to announce our return to Amsterdam NDSM in 2025. Registration now!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By the end of 2025, Dawn wants its remote-controlled sub-orbital aircraft to climb faster than an <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/McDonnell_Douglas_F-15_Eagle\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">F-15<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> fighter jet, fly higher than a <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-25\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">MiG-25<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> supersonic <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">reconnaissance plane<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (38km), and <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/trip-and-travel\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"10\" title=\"Trip &amp; Travel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">travel<\/a> faster than an <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalmuseum.af.mil\/Visit\/Museum-Exhibits\/Fact-Sheets\/Display\/Article\/198054\/lockheed-sr-71a\/#:~:text=On%20July%2028%2C%201976%2C%20an,the%20aircraft%20on%20display%2C%20Maj.\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SR-71 Blackbird<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">3,540 km\/h).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cU<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ltimately, [we want] to be the first vehicle to fly above the K\u00e1rm\u00e1n line \u2014 100km altitude (the <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a>ly accepted definition of \u2018space\u2019), twice in a single day,\u201d wrote Stefan Powell, one of Dawn\u2019s founders, in a blog post. \u201cSome of these records have stood for over 50 years.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dawn wants to enable cheaper, quicker access to space for orbital and hypersonic research, Earth observation, and transporting payloads above the Karman line. It plans to do this using a little suborbital aircraft and a relatively modest pot of private equity. The startup has spent just $10mn on the flight programme to date, and looks to complete it using just $20mn \u2014 pennies for an aerospace company.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"An_aircraft_with_the_performance_of_a_rocket\"><\/span><b>An aircraft with the performance of a rocket<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Planes have flown past the Karman line only a couple of times in history. The most notable was in 1963, when American <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/reference\/x-15\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Joseph Walker flew a rocket-powered X-15<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to an altitude of 106km \u2014 and returned.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All other vehicles to fly that high have been rockets or spaceplanes. Spaceplanes are vehicles that can take off and land on runways, and fly in both the Earth\u2019s atmosphere and in space.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Spaceplanes could prove a more cost-effective way to access space than rockets because they can be reused time and time again, just like a plane, but also fly beyond our atmosphere. A best of both worlds \u2014 at least in theory.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first operational spaceplane, NASA\u2019s space shuttle, entered service in 1981 but proved too costly, and not as reusable as first anticipated. Virgin Galactic\u2019s SpaceShipTwo, a suborbital spaceplane designed for space tourism, came to a more dramatic end. In 2014, the plane broke up during its first crewed flight and <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vice.com\/en\/article\/everything-we-know-about-the-virgin-galactic-spaceshiptwo-crash\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">crashed into the Mojave desert<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, killing the pilot.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-image post-mediaBleed aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1409316 size-full js-lazy\" alt=\"an image of a range rover towing the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo Unity. \" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2024\/08\/spaceshiptwo-virgin-galactic.jpeg\"\/><figcaption>Despite the tragic crash in 2014, Virgin Galactic built another SpaceShipTwo \u2013 officially christened VSS Unity \u2013 pictured here at a reveal and naming ceremony at their Mojave Air and Space Port base in California, USA. The plane was decommissioned in 2024. It never reached the Karman line.\u00a0 Credit: Nick Dimbleby\/Jaguar Land Rover<\/figcaption><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1409316 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2024\/08\/spaceshiptwo-virgin-galactic.jpeg\" alt=\"an image of a range rover towing the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo Unity. \" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To date, there have been hundreds of spaceplane concepts but nothing commercially viable. This is largely because most spaceplanes have been designed to take off and land like an aircraft but with all the associated costs and long development cycles of a rocket.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dawn wants to flip the status quo on its head by<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> building an aircraft with the performance of a rocket, but without the exorbitant costs.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Lean_mean_R_D\"><\/span><b>Lean, mean R&amp;D<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">rKiwi Stefan Powell and his brother James founded Dawn Aerospace in 2016 alongside Dutchman Jeroen Wink, and the two Germans Tobias Knop and Robert Werner. All of them, except for James, were rocket experts. But they decided to build a plane anyway.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt was 2017. We could see SpaceX making fantastic progress retrofitting reusability into the first stage Falcon 9. But we didn\u2019t want to follow that same path because of the extreme capital cost and lack of market opportunity until full performance is reached,\u201d wrote Powell. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have the deep pockets of Elon or our American VC-funded counterparts.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-image post-mediaBleed aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1409314 size-full js-lazy\" alt=\"dawn aerospace team photo\" width=\"1640\" height=\"980\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2024\/08\/dawn-aerospace-crew.jpg\"\/><figcaption>Glentanner Aerodrome, New Zealand: members of the 130-strong Dawn Aerospace team pose next to the Mk-II Aurora aircraft following a successful test flight on July 25 2024. Credit: Dawn Aerospace<\/figcaption><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1409314 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2024\/08\/dawn-aerospace-crew.jpg\" alt=\"dawn aerospace team photo\" width=\"1640\" height=\"980\" srcset=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dawn will certify the Mk-II Aurora as a plane, not a rocket. This means they require a one-time licence to operate in nonexclusive airspace, rather than flight-specific licences that need to be obtained for every flight. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Flying as an aircraft also allows the startup to fail fast and build quickly. In this way, the company can take many small risks in quick succession, rather than all at once \u2014 contrary to the likes of SpaceX.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dawn says it has gained strong commercial traction from organisations looking for a cheaper way to transport payloads to space to conduct everything from <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">microgravity research to earth observation. It expects to launch the first payloads to moderate altitudes before the end of this year, and many more in 2025 and 2026.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dawn\u2019s lean approach to tech development stands out in an industry dominated by billionaire-funded startups and deep-pocketed governments. The company generates some additional revenue from its other business line, which builds low emissions propulsions systems for satellites. Nevertheless, it\u2019s looking to do something quite remarkable given its limited cash runway.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dawn\u2019s ultimate vision is to build an orbital stage aircraft, dubbed Mk-III, that could transport satellites into low-Earth orbit, putting it in direct competition with SpaceX \u2014 but, perhaps, at a much lower price point.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span>\n                        <\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMN63nwsw68G3Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/dawn-aerospace-spaceplane-rocket-spacex\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dawn Aerospace is a small startup with big ambitions: to build the first vehicle to fly over 100 km above the Earth \u2014 twice in one day. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A couple of weeks back, the budding company \u2014 headquartered in the Netherlands and New Zealand \u2014 took a major step toward that goal. Its reusable, rocket-powered&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":630761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img-cdn.tnwcdn.com\/image\/tnw-blurple?filter_last=1&fit=1280%2C640&url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn0.tnwcdn.com%2Fwp-content%2Fblogs.dir%2F1%2Ffiles%2F2024%2F08%2Fdawn-aerospace-spaceplane-flight.jpg&signature=14c5eb9c7527e69071309d9e1d90205d","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-630760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=630760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/630761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=630760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=630760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=630760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}