The Silicon Valley-headquartered organisation DIU who taps into ‘non-traditional’ innovators, together with its U.S. Air Force and Under Secretary of Defense for Research & Engineering (USD R&E) partners, selected Hypersonix Launch Systems to provide a hypersonic vehicle for its HyCat program. This contract demonstrates the United States’ increased willingness to source commercial technologies from allied countries to meet urgent strategic challenges.
DART AE makes significant use of 3D-printing and is powered by a hydrogen-fuelled SPARTAN scramjet engine, capable of flying non-ballistic flight patterns at speeds of Mach 5 to Mach 7 and up to 1000 kms in range (400 seconds flight time). The DART AE has a modular payload bay of up to 20 lbs and Hypersonix plans to fly DART AE next year.
In addition, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has teamed up with us to bring our DART AE hypersonic system to the U.S. market with Kratos’ Zeus family of solid rocket motor systems. With a potential procurement of up to 20 DART AE vehicles planned once the combined flight system has been successfully completed and demonstrated.
Our value is the rapid, lower-cost manufacturing as the 3D printed scramjet has only a less than 2-month production cycle. This allows for high cadence with scalable build capabilities. No other competitor in our field has produced a reusable product. Our fuel/ignition is hydrogen/self-igniting which is not only environmentally friendly due to no harming CO2 emissions polluting our precious atmosphere, but also more reliable than current scramjet provider’s offerings.
It serves both Defence & Commercial industries.
1.Defence Problem: Need for high cadence (>20 launches per month), low cost, rapid and scalable production, delivering high-speed, real-time flight data.
Defense Solution: Our DART AE (Additive Engineering) flies at Mach 7, 3D printed, interoperable with any booster rocket, and capable of carrying a 20lb payload with a 1,000km range.
2.Commercial Problem: Satellite companies need a rapid and responsive launch capability, so they don’t have to carry inorbit spares.
Commercial Solution: Fly to any orbit from any launch site. Non-ballistic and reusable satellite launch system.
The U.S. so far, has not been able to collect a lot of hypersonic flight data & taps into ‘non-traditional’ innovators. DIU requested a vehicle capable of operating in a ‘representative environment’ that can maintain speeds above Mach5 with a manoeuvrable/non-ballistic flight profile and at least a 3-minute flight duration with near-constant flight conditions. DIU also wishes the flights to be repeated at short intervals.
We understand that to meet urgent strategic challenges, such products require high cadence, low cost, rapid and scalable production, delivering high-speed, real-time flight data. Hypersonix has been chosen by DIU, US Defense Innovation Unit for the reason that we can deliver.
Alternative competing products either scramjet, ramjets, or rocket planes. The top speed for our competition is Mach 6. Fuel ignitions are either Kerosene, Solid, Turbojet or HTP (hight test peroxide). Applications are either missile or flyers. The Hypersonix SPARTAN is better due to it being the only accelerating & reusable scramjet. Our hypersonic drone has better performance & high cadence manufacturing with a top speed of Mach 12, using hydrogen as its fuel source. Keeping it green and clean. Leaving no space and or ocean junk.
Our product being sustainable & accessible at a much less cost to build than the primes, granting us an advantage, making us much more attractive than our competitors.
Hypersonix’ product development strategy is to focus on its core competencies, specifically the development of its scramjets and unmanned aerial vehicles. The Company then partners with a range of organizations to incorporate best of breed proven technologies as required. These partners include Technology companies (3D printing, composites, and component manufacturers), leading R&D institutions, and Launch Service Providers. Rocket Lab has been chosen as Hypersonix’ partner for the first launch of DART AE.
Every major transport innovation has been driven by speed. Hypersonix travels further and faster than jet engines and is more fuel efficient and greener than rockets in both the Defense sector & broader Commercial Aviation and Space sector.
With a vision to create the world’s leading hypersonic technology that fundamentally disrupts the way we fly to space and around the world.
We want to bring New Space best business practices to the application of green and hypersonic systems, that will disrupt the global aerospace sector and respect Earth’s atmosphere.
