Gilmour Space plans hypersonic flight test service [Video]

Gilmour’s Hyper Flight service, set to launch in 2025 from a few potential sites, leverages the company’s orbital launch vehicle technology and is tailored to speeds above Mach 5, or more than five times the speed of sound.

“We’ve witnessed a surge in the research and development of hypersonic vehicles, materials, and other related technologies in recent years, especially since AUKUS (a trilateral security partnership involving Australia, the UK and US),” says Gilmour Space’s director of  launch vehicles and satellites, David Doyle.

“However, as many of these ideas progress from concept to prototyping and testing, we’re also seeing a growing bottleneck in high-speed flight test capabilities, beyond what ground-based shock tunnel testing …