First U.S. Research Payload Flies on Dawn Aurora Spaceplane

California Polytechnic State University Flies Student-Built Experiment

Sep 17, 2025

∙ Paid

A payload built by students at California Polytechnic State University has been successfully flown aboard the Dawn Aerospace Aurora spaceplane, reaching a speed of Mach 0.79 and an altitude of 37,000 feet.

“Flying on Aurora is of serious strategic importance.”
Kurt Colvin, Cal Poly

This flight on June 24th—Aurora’s first from Dawn’s newly operational laun…

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