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Hypersonix Launch Systems was selected ahead of 63 entrants by the US Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) for a program testing aircraft that can fly faster than five times the speed of sound.
It follows the company’s inaugural overseas launch failing earlier this year in the UK, and the business reporting an operating loss of $US149 million for the first nine months of 2022.
The partnership will see Canberra-based Skykraft use its constellation of five satellites, which were launched with SpaceX from Florida in January this year, to collect aircraft movement data and test it against data from Airways New Zealand covering NZ, the South Pacific and Southern Oceans, and the Tasman Sea.
January’s launch was the first outside the company’s home airport in the Mojave Desert, California, and significantly came before it plans a demonstrator launch at Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport in 2024.
The UK government department that normally investigates traditional aircraft accidents will work with its US equivalent to investigate why the 747 rocket launch failed.
Skykraft has confirmed the first five satellites it launched to improve ATM in Australia are now functioning after launching last week.
