Australian aerospace startup Hypersonix Launch Systems will launch and return hypersonic vehicles from a new suborbital flight test service to be set up at Southern Launch spaceports as early as next year.
The two companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Tuesday to work on a turnkey hypersonic testbed they say will cement the state as the next global aerospace hub.
The testbed is slated to arrive late next year – around the same time that Queensland-based Gilmour Space Technologies expects its similar HyPeRsonic Flight Test service to be ready.
Hypersonix is developing a hypersonic aircraft and engine, known as DART AE, which is powered by a hydrogen-fuelled scramjet engine and capable of reaching speeds of up to Mach 7.
But for scramjet engines to reach more than five times the speed of sound (Mach 5), they need to be launched on and separate from a rocket, making conventional ground-based shock tunnel testing and simulations impractical.
Under the MoU, Hypersonix and Southern Launch will begin work immediately to develop a mission to launch and return Hypersonix’s testbed vehicles at either of Southern Launch’s spaceports: Whalers Way or Koonibba.
Southern Launch is awaiting the outcome of an environmental assessment of the Whalers Way site, which is located near threatened endangered specifics like the southern emu wren and southern right whale.
Last month, the federal government delayed the decision on approval until September 20. The state government is also yet to sign off on the complex, which was declared a major development more than five years ago.
Announcing the testbed on Tuesday, Southern Launch chief executive Lloyd Damp said the geographical advantages of South Australia make it the “perfect place to test hypersonic vehicles”.
“The Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex and Koonibba Test Range are designed to be flexible to host a variety of missions,” he said in a statement released on day two of the Land Forces expo.
“We are proud that we can work with the Hypersonix team to help with the advancement of hypersonic vehicle technology and add another chapter to our nation’s aerospace capabilities right here in South Australia.”
Hypersonix chief executive Matt Hill said that with the “intensity of hypersonic testing is set to rise rapidly”, both emerging technology and aerospace companies will need “hypersonic flight heritage for their products”.
“Our hypersonic testbed will make this affordable for these companies to flight qualify their technology,” he said.
Hypersonics and counter-hypersonics are one of six immediate priorities under the advanced technologies component of the trilateral security pact between Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom.
Hypersonix’s DART AE was selected by the Pentagon’s Defence Innovation Unit last year as the test vehicle for its Hypersonic and High-Cadence Airborne Testing Capabilities program. It also signed a contract with the UK’s Ministry of Defence in July.
Do you know more? Contact James Riley via Email.