Dawn Aerospace is a small startup with big ambitions: to build the first vehicle to fly over 100 km above the earth – twice in one day.
A few weeks ago, the up-and-coming company – based in the Netherlands and New Zealand – took a big step towards that goal. Its reusable, rocket-powered Mk-II Aurora aircraft reached speeds of Mach 0.92 (967 km/h) at altitudes above 15 km.
While that's still a long way from its final goal, it's three times faster and five times higher than its previous test from last year. The startup has more flights planned for September, where it hopes to exceed Mach 1 – the speed of sound. And it's not stopping there.
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By the end of 2025, Dawn aims to climb its remote-controlled suborbital aircraft faster than a F-15 Fighter jet, fly higher than a MiG-25 Supersonic Reconnaissance aircraft (38 km) and travel faster than a SR-71 Blackbird (3,540 km/h).
“Youultimately [we want] “to be the first vehicle to cross the Kármán line – 100 km altitude (the generally accepted definition of 'space') – twice in a single day,” wrote Stefan Powell, one of Dawn's founders, in a blog post. “Some of these records have stood for over 50 years.”
Dawn aims to provide cheaper and faster access to space for orbital and hypersonic research, Earth observation and the delivery of payloads above the Karman line. The company plans to do this using a small suborbital aircraft and a relatively modest amount of private equity. The startup has spent just $10 million on the flight program so far and aims to complete it with just $20 million – a no-brainer for an aerospace company.
An aircraft with the power of a rocket
Airplanes have only flown past the Karman Line a few times in history. The most notable was in 1963, when American Joseph Walker flew a rocket-powered X-15 to an altitude of 106 km – and back.
All other vehicles that could fly that high were rockets or spaceplanes. Spaceplanes are vehicles that can take off and land on runways and can fly in both the Earth's atmosphere and in space.
Spaceplanes could prove to be a more cost-effective way to get into space than rockets, since like airplanes they can be used over and over again, but can also fly beyond our atmosphere. The best of both worlds – at least in theory.
The first operational spaceplane, NASA's Space Shuttle, entered service in 1981, but proved too expensive and not as reusable as initially expected. Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, a suborbital spaceplane designed for space tourism, met a more dramatic end. In 2014, the plane broke apart during its first manned flight and crashed in the Mojave Desertin which the pilot died.
Despite the tragic crash in 2014, Virgin Galactic built another SpaceShipTwo – officially named VSS Unity – pictured here at an unveiling and christening ceremony at their Mojave Air and Space Port base in California, USA. The aircraft was retired in 2024. It never reached the Karman Line. Image credit: Nick Dimbleby/Jaguar Land Rover
To date, there are hundreds of spaceplane concepts, but none of them are commercially viable. This is mainly because most spaceplanes are designed to take off and land like airplanes, but with the associated costs and long development cycles of a rocket.
Dawn wants to turn the status quo on its head by Building an aircraft with the performance of a rocket, but without the exorbitant costs.
Lean, efficient research and development
Kiwi Stefan Powell and his brother James founded Dawn Aerospace in 2016 together with Dutchman Jeroen Wink and the two Germans Tobias Knop and Robert Werner. All of them except James were rocket experts. But they decided to build an aircraft anyway.
“It was 2017. We could see SpaceX making fantastic progress by building reusability into the Falcon 9 first stage. But we didn't want to go down that path because the capital costs were extremely high and there was no market opportunity until full performance was achieved,” Powell wrote. “We didn't have the deep pockets of Elon or our American, VC-funded counterparts.”
Glentanner Aerodrome, New Zealand: Members of the 130-strong Dawn Aerospace team pose next to the Mk-II Aurora aircraft after a successful test flight on July 25, 2024. Photo credit: Dawn Aerospace
Dawn will certify the Mk-II Aurora as an aircraft, not a missile, meaning they will require a one-time license to operate in non-exclusive airspace, rather than flight-specific licenses that must be obtained for each flight.
Flying as an airplane also allows the startup to fail fast and build fast. This allows the company to take many small risks in quick succession, rather than all at once – unlike companies like SpaceX.
Dawn says it has gained strong commercial support from organizations looking for a cheaper way to transport payloads into space to do everything from Microgravity research to Earth observation. The company expects to launch its first payloads to medium altitudes this year, and many more in 2025 and 2026.
Dawn's lean approach to technology development stands out in an industry dominated by billion-dollar startups and deep-pocketed governments. The company generates additional revenue from its other business, making low-emission propulsion systems for satellites, but it wants to do something special given its limited cash flow.
Dawn's ultimate vision is to build a spacecraft, called the Mk-III, that could carry satellites into low Earth orbit, putting Dawn in direct competition with SpaceX – but potentially at a much lower cost.
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