First Civilian Aircraft to Go Hypersonic After the Concorde Is Called Mk-II Aurora

When it comes to supersonic aircraft, for instance, military pilots are the ones who enjoy the best technology has to offer. Civilians only got a taste of going through the air faster than the speed of sound with the Concorde, a remarkable aircraft that was driven into the ground by high operating costs and a crash that technically had nothing to do with the plane itself.

By all accounts, the Concorde remains to this day the only civilian aircraft to go supersonic. Granted, civilian companies are responsible for a lot of rockets that regularly do that, but when it comes to something that takes off horizontally from a runway, climbs, and breaches the sound barrier, the Concorde is still king.

Its crown, however, is in jeopardy, now that a New Zealand-based company called Dawn Aerospace managed to complete the first supersonic flight of a machine called Mk-II Aurora. Unlike the Concorde, it is not meant to carry people, but that doesn't take the merit of being the first civilian flying machine to reach Mach speeds since the Concorde away from it.

The historic flight took place on November 12 over the Glentanner Aerodrome in New Zealand. The rocket-powered Aurora rushed down the runway, climbed to 82,500 feet (25,146 meters), and blasted past Mach 1.1 (844 mph/1,358 kph).

Not only did the thing manage to reach this milestone, but during the flight it also became the fastest aircraft when it comes to climbing speeds, moving from ground level to 66,000 feet (20 km) in just 118.6 seconds. In doing so, the crewless, rocket-powered plane beat the record set by an F-15 Streak Eagle in the 1970s by 4.2 seconds.

All of the above is impressive and all, but it doesn't even come close to the capabilities Dawn is targeting. When all is said and done, the Aurora should be capable of flying higher and faster than the SR-71 Blackbird.

What does that mean? Well, consider a maximum altitude of 62 miles (100 km, the agreed boundary to space), and a top speed that can reach Mach 3.5 (2,685 mph/4,321 kph) during ascent and re-entry.

An even more remarkable thing about this is that the Aurora should be able to take off and land at least two times in a single day, as proven during some of the previous 56 flight tests.

But what is this thing meant to be used for, if humans can't climb on board? Like other major space companies out there, Dawn is developing this solution to be used by paying customers to conduct microgravity research, atmospheric science, Earth observation, and high-speed flight testing.

The undisclosed rocket that powers it is not only capable of taking it high and fast, but also allows the Aurora to carry payloads as large as one ton on suborbital flights, and 550 pounds (250 kg) to low-Earth orbit.

Now that the first supersonic flight is out of the way, Dawn Aerospace plans to begin commercial operations in the coming months. An offshoot called Dawn Hypersonics will handle the missions, a bunch of which have already been booked by "several U.S. customers."