iscover
The experiment, known as the Dawn Aerospace Radar Tracking Experiment (DARTE), saw Dawn Aerospace operate its suborbital spaceplane Aurora from the Tāwhaki National Aerospace Centre, south of Christchurch. At sea, the Royal New Zealand Navy frigate HMNZS Te Kaha tracked the vehicle using its onboard surveillance radar systems.
The funding commitment will take effect if the Australian government agrees to back the mission, which would see Australian of the Year Katherine Bennell-Pegg become the first astronaut to fly under the Australian flag after training with the European Space Agency.
A public and industry-led campaign was launched late last month to implore the Australian government to partner with the European Space Agency to send ESA-trained astronaut Bennell-Pegg on an ESA mission.
Brisbane-based aerospace company Hypersonix Launch Systems confirmed that its DART AE hypersonic test aircraft completed the mission following launch from Wallops Flight Facility in the US over the weekend.
The mission will see Hypersonix’s 3.5-metre DART AE hypersonic vehicle carried into the upper atmosphere aboard a HASTE rocket operated by Rocket Lab. The launch window opens at 4pm US Eastern Time on Wednesday, 25 February, corresponding to 7am AEDT on Thursday, 26 February.
The findings, published as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program investigation, mark one of the most serious official rebukes of a human spaceflight mission in recent years and underscore ongoing challenges with Starliner, which was intended to serve as a second crew transport system alongside SpaceX’s Crew Dragon.
PROFILES
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Raising the Bar in Commercial Laundry: How Rinse & Repeat Is Redefining Service for Aviation
UPRT Australia- Transforming Aviation’s Greatest Risk into Its Greatest Asset
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