Commercial aircraft reach supersonic speed

The revival of commercial supersonic flight moves closer to reality as Dawn Aerospace announces the successful breaking of the sound barrier with its Mk-II Aurora rocket-powered aircraft.

The 4.8-meter-long Mk-II Aurora reached a supersonic speed of 1,358 km/h on November 12, according to New Atlas . Since the Concorde, a joint British-French project, was retired in 2003, civil supersonic flight has been largely forgotten. In recent years, a number of startups have been working on various projects to create a new generation of supersonic passenger planes that are quieter, greener, more efficient, and more cost-effective.

Mk-II Aurora operates autonomously during test flight.

The Mk-II Aurora is an experimental unmanned aircraft with a wingspan of 4 m and a weight of 200 kg. In the skies above Glentanner Airfield near the foot of Mount Cook/Aoraki in New Zealand, the Mk-II Aurora reached a speed of Mach 1.1 (1,358 km/h) at an altitude of 25,150 m.

According to the company, the Mk-II Aurora broke other records, becoming the first New Zealand-designed and built supersonic aircraft, the highest altitude ever flown by a vehicle from New Zealand, and the fastest to reach 20 kilometers. The rocket-powered aircraft did this in 118.6 seconds, 4.2 seconds faster than the F-15 modified in the 1970s. The Mk-II Aurora also made a second flight six hours later.

The company's ultimate goal is to reach speeds of Mach 3.5 (4,321 km/h) at the edge of space , where Aurora will be used for microgravity research, atmospheric science, Earth observation, and high-speed flight testing.

'This achievement highlights the enormous potential of rocket-powered aircraft to achieve unprecedented performance ,' said Stefan Powell, CEO of Dawn Aerospace. 'With this new test flight, we can confirm that Aurora is the fastest high-altitude vehicle ever produced. This milestone paves the way for Aurora to become the world's fastest and highest-flying aircraft, as well as the first operational supersonic aircraft . '