The Dawn of the Aurora Spaceplane Era
Rocket-Powered Test Flight Campaign Leads to Production Spacecraft
After 47 flights on jet power, the Dawn Aerospace Aurora has evolved to a rocket-powered and world-record-setting suborbital spaceplane. Flight 48 to Flight 62 showcased these 15 test flights conducted between 2023 and 2025 demonstrating rapid testing and relentless innovation.
Flight testing is rarely a smooth process, and the campaign saw its fair share of anomalies. From radio glitches to unexpectedly high winds, many real-world effects were observed that pushed the hardware and team to their limits. But according to Dawn Aerospace, this is where a rapidly reusable platform shines. In every case, Aurora could simply land, issues could be addressed, and in most cases be flying again within hours, not weeks or months. These moments didn’t just test the hardware; they proved the robustness of systems and the flight crew.
Some highlights from the flight log and a few “firsts” for the Dawn team and the industry:
The Power Shift: On the 29th of March 2023, the transition was made from jet engines to the first rocket-powered flights. This was the debut of the in-house-developed bi-propellant rocket engine in flight after the airframe and avionics were proven on prior flights, with three flights completed in three days.
Rapid Reusability: On the 4th of October 2024, the “turnaround” capability was demonstrated by flying two rocket-powered missions in a single day, in fact, within six hours of one another.
Supersonic History: Aurora flew supersonic on the 12th of November 2024, and did so in an 85-degree climb, also breaking a world ‘time to climb’ record from ground to 20 km (≈12 miles) altitude, with a time of 118 seconds.
Commercial Validation: In June/July, four missions were flown for US customers and universities, including the “Pathfinder” campaign. These customers could test their latest and greatest avionics, cameras, and prototype new capabilities, such as a space domain awareness service using the Aurora platform.
Launch site agnostic: These flights were conducted from two locations, Tāwhaki National Aerospace Center and Glentanner Aerodrome.
The next, and much higher performance iteration of Aurora, is now in production. It is set to be the first vehicle to fly above 100 km (≈62 miles) in altitude … officially to space … multiple times per day. This will herald in a new era of rapidly reusable sub-orbital launch and is a massive step towards our mission of scalable and sustainable space transportation.