Australia's University of Queensland-led HyShot air-breathing supersonic combustion ramjet (scramjet) experiment will be launched aboard a Terrier Orion sounding rocket from the Woomera Rocket Range, South Australia, on 23 October.
The A$1.25 million ($2.4 million) international project, led by the university's Centre for Hypersonics, will start with a flight to an apogee of 350km (220 miles), with the scramjet operating from 35km on a mission lasting 10min.
The 113kg (250lb) payload is expected to achieve Mach 7.6. A second flight is scheduled for 30 October.
NASA's Langley Research Center plans to sign a contract to receive HyShot data. The project has partners in Australia, Germany, South Korea and the UK .
Source: Flight International