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Mk-II Aurora Suborbital Plane Is Entirely Reusable, Watch It Nail Its First Flights

You’ve probably heard by now about the billionaire space race that took place between Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson. However, with the space gates now wide open for commercial flights, more companies are trying to join the race. One of them is Dawn Aerospace, a New Zealand-Dutch space transportation company that is not only aiming to fly 62 miles (100 km) up, but it plans to do it with entirely reusable suborbital planes.
Mk-II Aurora suborbital plane 9 photos
Photo: Dawn Aerospace
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Named Mk-II Aurora, the suborbital plane serves as a technology demonstrator for the final variant, which is expected to reach the edge of space: a two-stage-to-orbit vehicle, the Mk-III. The company not only aims to fly its aircraft above Earth, but it also plans to access space multiple times a day.

That’s a bold claim, but so far, Dawn’s Mk-II Aurora has already completed five flights from Glentanner Aerodrome in New Zealand’s South Island. The flights were conducted using surrogate jet engines, and the goal was to assess the vehicle’s airframe and avionics.

Taxi testing started last month, and the five flights occurred between the 28th and 30th of July. The suborbital plane successfully demonstrated that it is capable of reaching altitudes of 3,400 feet (1 km).

While the initial testing was conducted using surrogate jet engines, the next step is to outfit Mk-II with a rocket engine that is already in the final stages of development. This will allow the aircraft to achieve greater performance during supersonic and high-altitude tests.

“We are delighted with the results and demonstrating rapid turnaround – we conducted five flights within three days, and two flights occurred within ninety minutes of each other,” said Stefan Powell, CEO of Dawn Aerospace.

Dawn’s final goal is to create reusable and sustainable space technologies that will be used in its suborbital and orbital rocket-powered planes. The planes will operate much like a fleet of aircraft, which will take off and land horizontally from conventional airports.

In the future, Mk-II will also be used to collect atmospheric data for weather and climate modeling, as well as for scientific purposes and technology demonstrations. You can see (and hear) what Mk-II is all about in the videos down below.


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About the author: Florina Spînu
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Florina taught herself how to drive in a Daewoo Tico (a rebadged Suzuki Alto kei car) but her first "real car" was a VW Golf. When she’s not writing about cars, drones or aircraft, Florina likes to read anything related to space exploration and take pictures in the middle of nature.
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