Stargazer (drone)

2024: Drone Tests

Venus Aerospace's Stargazer drone passed its first tests. The drone reached speeds of more than 1,100 km/h (691 miles/h) in flight. This was announced on April 2, 2024 by the Robb Report.

The drone is about 2.5 meters long and weighs 136 kilograms. The UAV's Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE) uses hydrogen peroxide to accelerate. During the tests, the drone was dropped from a height of 3700 meters. Thanks to this, it reached a speed of 0.9 from the speed of sound. According to the company, the drone has developed 80% of its potential speed, that is, it can reach speeds faster than the speed of sound.

Venus Aerospace

During testing, the drone demonstrated its controllability, stability, telemetry, and also tested the launch method and ease of control from the ground.

The team coped professionally and received a lot of data for processing and small changes by the next launch, said Venus Aerospace CTO Andrew Duggleby.

Robb Report notes that this development is not the first supersonic drone. Thus, the US Air Force remotely controlled supersonic fighters back in the 1950s. However, the development of Venus Aerospace, thanks to the new engine, is able to fly longer distances using less fuel.

The drone's engine will also be used in the development of the supersonic space plane, which is planned by the company in the future. The plane will be able to take off from airports, then use a jet engine to rise to an altitude of 51 km and reach a speed of 5000 miles per hour. Thus, the plane will be able to cover the distance from San Francisco to Japan in an hour.

The company said it has already received several contracts from U.S. government organizations to accelerate the development of an RDRE engine for hypersonic and space missions.^[1]

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