Australia's Hyshot scramjet engine will be flight tested twice in August aboard US-supplied Terrier Orion sounding rockets launched from Woomera, South Australia.
The University of Queensland-led A$1.5 million ($760,000) Hyshot project involves Australian, German, Japanese and US partners, including Astrotech and NASA. Hyshot involves a small supersonic combustion ramjet engine housed in the nose cone of the Terrier Orion rocket, which will deploy the payload at an altitude of 35km (22 miles).
The Hyshot payload will reach Mach 7.6 as it enters the atmosphere, transmitting data before it crashes to the ground. Hyshot is similar in concept to the US X-43 Hyper-X spaceplane, which will reach Mach 7 in June.
Source: Flight International