28.07.2024

Gilmour Space Technologies, an Australian launch services company, has announced a new suborbital flight test service targeted at commercial and defense customers needing hypersonic speeds above Mach 5.

"We've witnessed a surge in the research and development of hypersonic vehicles, materials, and other related technologies in recent years, especially since AUKUS (a trilateral security partnership involving Australia, the UK and US)," said David Doyle, Director of Launch Vehicles and Satellites at Gilmour Space.

"However, as many of these ideas progress from concept to prototyping and testing, we're also seeing a growing bottleneck in high-speed flight test capabilities, beyond what ground-based shock tunnel testing and simulations can offer."

Mr. Doyle explained that while wind tunnel tests, which provide hypersonic flow for 200 to 300 milliseconds, are useful for early-stage testing of materials and geometries with scaled-down models, there remains a significant challenge in scaling these technologies to full-size applications.

"Our new HyPeRsonic FLight Test (HPRFLT or Hyper Flight) service will help to bridge that gap by providing a real-life environment for researchers and companies to test, demonstrate, and advance their innovations to higher Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs)," he added.

Scheduled to launch in 2025 from various potential sites, the Hyper Flight service uses Gilmour Space's orbital launch vehicle technology.

"This is a low-cost, rapid turnkey, hypersonic testbed in Australia that will be essential for translating early-stage research into high TRL technologies and platforms that can be used by the Australian Defence Force and our Allies."

Quelle: SD