Dawn Aerospace Announced that its MK-II Aurora Rocket-Powered Aircraft Became the First Civil Aircraft to Fly Supersonic Since the Concorde on Nov. 12th

(Ōtautahi Christchurch, New Zealand) Multinational aerospace company Dawn Aerospace announced yesterday the successful supersonic flight of its MK-II Aurora rocket-powered aircraft on Nov. 12th; per Dawn, the Aurora is one of the fastest privately-developed aircraft on the planet, and both surpassed the speed of sound – reaching Mach 1.1 – and climbed to an altitude of 82,500 jet on its record-breaking flight last week.

Pilot Cam photo of Dawn Aerospace’s MK-II Aurora at Apogee – 25km, 82,500 ft altitude – courtesy of Dawn Aerospace.

Yesterday’s press release from Dawn Aerospace explains that the 82,500-foot altitude achieved is more than twice as high as the altitude flown by commercial aircraft, and that the Nov. 12th flight marks the first time a civil aircraft has flown supersonic since the Concorde (which stopped flying in November of 2003).

The Aurora’s Nov. 12th flight marked the aircraft’s record as (1) the fastest aircraft ever to climb from ground level to ~ 12.43 miles (20 km), (2) the first New Zealand-designed and -built aircraft to fly supersonic and (3) achieving the highest altitude ever by an aircraft flown from New Zealand.

“This achievement signifies a major step toward operational hypersonic travel and daily space access, establishing rocket-powered aircraft as a new class of ultra-high-performance vehicles,” reads Dawn Aerospace’s press release.

The Nov. 12th flight was conducted from New Zealand’s Glentanner Aerodrome near the base of Aoraki Mt Cook and exceeded its test target speeds and altitude of Mach 1.05 and 75,000 feet. The Aurora also set a global record, becoming the fastest aircraft to climb from ground level to 20 km (~ 12.43 miles / 66,000 feet), completing the ascent in just 118.6 seconds. This beats the previous record, held by a highly modified F-15 ‘Streak Eagle’ in the 1970s, by 4.2 seconds.

“This achievement highlights the immense potential of rocket-powered aircraft to achieve performance never seen before,” said Stefan Powell, CEO of Dawn Aerospace. “With flight test 57, we retired the final major technical risk in the Aurora program: vehicle dynamics through the transonic regime. We have now confirmed the Aurora as the highest climb rate vehicle ever built. This milestone sets the stage for Aurora to become the world’s highest and fastest-flying aircraft and paves the way for the first operational hypersonic aircraft, redefining what’s possible in aviation.”

Powell explained that Dawn has been working for more than seven years to design, develop, test and deliver supersonic flight, and will start commercial payload operations in the coming months under the Dawn Hypersonics brand.

“We look forward to continuing to work with our international customers, Tāwhaki National Aerospace Centre, and the New Zealand Space Agency as we progress our capability and deliver on commercial operations,” Powell said.