Company claims this plane will fly from LA to Tokyo in an hour

By Dean Murray via SWNS

An aerospace company has announced a hypersonic plane they claim will fly passengers around the world and back home in time for dinner.

Houston start-up Venus Aerospace say the Mach 9 hypersonic aircraft will be capable of "one-hour global travel."

The firm introduced their first conceptual vehicle design, the "Stargazer," at the Up.Summit in Bentonville, Arkansas, this month.

They explained the Venus Vehicle Engineering Team has been working on this iteration since the company's founding in 2020.

A spokesperson explains: "At Venus Aerospace we are building the world’s first Spaceplane that can fly at hypersonic speeds at the edge of the atmosphere. A Spaceplane that can take off from LAX and land in Tokyo in an hour, and then make the return flight to get you home for dinner."

Backed by "leading venture capitalists," Venus say they have received $1m in government funding for the project, adding "Venus has since raised over $33m to build a Mach 9 hypersonic drone and Mach 9 spaceplane, both capable of one-hour global travel.”

Venus claims to have “scaled fast” in the last year, having designed and built its tech demonstration engine, executed key experiments at hypersonic wind tunnels and propulsion test facilities throughout the U.S., and started a ground test campaign at Spaceport Houston.

Over the next year they plan to start subsonic and supersonic flight testing of a scaled drone.

Venus is founded by Sarah "Sassie" Duggleby, previously Launch Systems Engineering and Mission Management Consultant at Virgin Orbit, and Dr. Andrew Duggleby, former head of launch operations at Virgin Orbit.

Their team consists of a dedicated and experienced team of aerospace, military and research and development veterans who are "pushing the boundaries of high-speed transportation."

Venus explain: “The team is maturing its three main technologies: a zero-emission next-generation rocket engine, innovative aircraft shape and leading-edge cooling, which allows the spaceplane to take off from existing spaceports, using existing infrastructure.

"Our team is solving the thousands of problems that make hypersonic travel possible. We’re engineering innovative aircraft shapes, heat shields, flight mechanics, and so much more. This is all supported by our next generation zero-carbon emission hypersonic engine."