Almost no one in Australia has heard of Hypersonix. They should have.
The engine
A former NASA scientist built a scramjet: a jet engine with no moving parts at all. It burns hydrogen instead of kerosene, so it puts out zero carbon dioxide. And it is fully 3D printed.
The flight
Hypersonix strapped its 3.5 metre DART AE aircraft to a rocket, launched it out of Virginia with the US Defense Innovation Unit, and released it in the upper atmosphere to fly its hypersonic mission. It was the company’s first flight, and a milestone for Australian built hypersonics.
The mission was officially called That’s Not A Knife.
The money
- US$46M raised
- Backed by the federal government’s National Reconstruction Fund
- The engine is designed to reach Mach 12
My read
A team of around 50 people in Brisbane just did what most countries cannot. Hypersonic flight is one of the most strategically important technologies in the world right now, and Australia has a company that has actually flown it.