It sounds like a dream too good to be true for today’s modern business people.
But commuter journeys across the Atlantic could be shortened eightfold, thanks to a new ‘hysonic’ liner in the works.
A Texas aerospace company called Venus Aerospace is working on a jetliner called Stargazer, along with the engine that will power it.
Stargazer will be ‘hysonic’ – meaning it can travel more than five times the speed of sound – and will also fly higher than other aircraft.
If approved for commercial travel, the $33 million plane could complete the 3,459-mile journey from London to New York in less than an hour — about three times as fast as the Concorde (1,354 mph) and five times as fast fast as NASA’s upcoming plane being dubbed. ‘Son of Concorde’ (1500 km/h).
It sounds like a dream too good to be true for today’s modern business people. But commutes across the Atlantic could be shortened eightfold, thanks to a new ‘hypersonic’ airliner in the works (concept image)
Venus’ advanced propulsion system (pictured in testing) is designed to power high-speed vehicles, including drones and aircraft
At the Up Summit event in Bentonville, Arkansas last week, Venus Aerospace debuted the engine that will power its Stargazer aircraft through the sky.
It’s called the Venus Detonation Ramjet 2000 lb Thrust Engine, also known as ‘VDR2’.
Andrew Duggleby, co-founder of Venus Aerospace, said the engine will enable a “revolution in high-speed flight.”
“This engine makes the hypersonic economy a reality,” said Duggleby, who founded the company in 2020.
According to Venus Aerospace, VDR2 can reach speeds of Mach 6, or six times the speed of sound – so about 7,500 km/h.
That would make it officially ‘hysonic’, which is the level above ‘supersonic’ (greater than the speed of sound (Mach 1) or 1230 km/h).
Venus Aerospace has already released concept images of Stargazer, but it’s unclear how close it is to building a similarly sized prototype
It will take off with traditional jet engines, but once it reaches high enough altitude it will switch to the VDR2 (concept image)
Venus Aerospace says: ‘The VDR2 combines the high thrust and efficiency of the Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE) with the highly efficient cruise of a Ramjet’
When completed, VDR2 will power high-speed drones as well as Stargazer, which the company has raised $33 million to build.
VDR2 was successfully tested in a small drone earlier this year, and now the company is eyeing a second drone test in 2025.
Venus Aerospace has already released concept images of Stargazer, but it is unclear how close it is to building a similar-sized prototype.
If Stargazer becomes a reality, it will be the first commercial passenger aircraft to travel faster than the speed of sound since Concorde.
The Concorde, which was retired more than twenty years ago, flew at a maximum altitude of 60,000 feet.
According to Venus Aerospace, the upcoming plane will not only be faster, but also fly higher – up to 35,000 meters.
It will take off using traditional jet engines, but once it reaches sufficient altitude it will switch to the VDR2, which uses rockets and a ‘ramjet’.
Ramjets are a type of ‘air-breathing’ jet engines that use the forward motion of the engine to compress the incoming air.
Like Concorde passengers almost a quarter century ago, Stargazer passengers will be high enough to see the curvature of the Earth.
Here the horizon is a gentle curve rather than a straight line, normally seen from 50,000 feet.
According to Venus Aerospace, VDR2 can reach speeds of Mach 6, or six times the speed of sound – so about 7,500 km/h. That would make it officially ‘hysonic’, which is the level above ‘supersonic’ (greater than the speed of sound (Mach 1) or 1230 km/h)
According to Venus Aerospace, the upcoming Stargazer aircraft will not only be faster than Concore, but also fly higher – up to 35,000 meters
The Concorde, which was retired more than twenty years ago, flew at a maximum altitude of 60,000 feet. The photo shows the curvature of the Earth, as seen from the Concorde
The Concorde was the world’s first supersonic airliner and operated for 27 years, but was grounded in October 2003. The photo shows the British Airways Concorde G-BOAB taking off with its landing gear still extended over the town of Fairford, Gloucestershire in the Cotswolds, on July 20, 1996, during the annual RAF Fairford air show
Venus Aerospace is working with Ohio company Velontra, which provides hypersonic weapons technologies, to bring the plane to life.
“We can’t wait to dive in, get the first one flying and ultimately perfect an engine concept that has largely lived in textbooks but never as a production unit in the air,” said Eric Briggs, Velontra’s Chief Operating Officer.
Stargazer may not be ready until NASA’s new 100-foot plane, dubbed X-59, exists as a prototype.
The X-59 can reach a speed of 937 miles per hour, which is faster than the speed of sound, but not as fast as Stargazer.
Another new supersonic craft dubbed Concorde’s son – Boom Supersonic’s Overture – is also preparing for its debut flight.
Largely because of the noise it made, Concorde was largely limited to cross-Atlantic flights, namely Paris to New York and London to New York.
The legendary aircraft was the world’s first supersonic aircraft and served for 27 years, but was grounded in October 2003.
No government or manufacturer has since been able to commercialize a commercial aircraft that can travel faster than the speed of sound.
Many of the reasons for the Concorde’s demise were high fuel costs, noise concerns and a preference for lower fares over speed.
However, it was not the first aircraft to break the sound barrier; that feat was accomplished in October 1947 by the Bell X-1 piloted by Chuck Yeager.
The rocket-powered aircraft, designed and built in 1945, reached a speed of 700 miles (1,127 kilometers) per hour.