Australian aerospace startup Hypersonix Launch Systems has been drafted into the US Defence Innovation Unit’s accelerator program after being chosen to provide hypersonic vehicles for testing.
The Australian start-up beat out a slew of major international aerospace firms for the DIU contract under the Hypersonic and High-Cadence Airborne Testing Capabilities (HyCAT1) initiative.
DIU requested a vehicle capable of operating in a “representative environment,” with speeds exceeding Mach 5, a manoeuvrable/non-ballistic flight profile, and at least a 3-minute flight duration under near-constant flight conditions.
DIU would also like the flights to be repeated at regular intervals, the organisation said in a press release.
The aerospace company responded to the request for proposals with its DART AE (Additive Engineering) vehicle, which makes extensive use of 3D printing and is powered by a hydrogen-fueled scramjet engine.
The DART can travel at speeds ranging from Mach 5 to Mach 7 and has a range of up to 1,000 kilometres.
Specifically, DIU chose Hypersonix from 63 responses to the agency’s September 2022 HyCAT solicitation, which sought vehicles capable of high cadence long-endurance testing of hypersonic platforms and components; sensors for detecting and tracking; and systems for communications, navigation, guidance, and control.
“Our vehicles are capable of non-ballistic flight patterns to at least Mach 7, which exceeds the HyCAT1 specification,” Hypersonix Launch Systems managing director David Waterhouse said.
“Our longer-term focus is to capture a slice of the emerging multi-billion-dollar commercial market for deployment of small satellites, but clearly Australia’s strategic defence allies see immediate potential in our technology,” he added.
Waterhouse expressed his delight over the contract, saying that this award moves Australia one step closer to becoming a significant participant in the global space competition.
Founded in 2019, the Defence Innovation Unit is based in Mountain View, California, and is designed to reach out to non-traditional innovators, typically from commercial markets, who are working on new technologies that can be incorporated for use in the defence sector.
The first DART AE test flight is set to take place in 2024.
