A European company planning development of a suborbital aircraft with the capability of flying faster than an SR-71 spy plane and higher altitudes than any aircraft wants to come to Oklahoma.
Dawn Aerospace, based in the Netherlands, has approached the Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority with a request for a possible agreement to locate its spaceplane and U.S. operations at the Authority’s space port located at Burns Flat, the site of a former U.S. Air Force base.
The authority will meet Friday and the agenda stated there will be a “discussion and possible action regarding agreement with Dawn Aerospace for the acquisition and operation of the Aurora MK-II Spaceplane and to establish its U.S. Operations in Oklahoma.”
The agenda stated an explanation will be offered by Authority Director Craig Smith as well as review, discussion and possible board action.
Dawn Aerospace’s website explained the mission of the Mk-II is to be the first vehicle to fly above 100km altitude,twice in one day.
“By many metrics, the Mk-II will be the highest-performance vehicle ever to take off from a runway. It will fly faster than an SR-71, and climb faster than an F-15, and to higher altitudes than any aircraft before it.”
The company explained the aircraft would have the performance of a rocket but is designed to operate as an aircraft. It would be certified as an aircraft, fly out of any sealed 1000m runway and be certified to fly in non-exclusive airspace.
“This allows the Mk-II to be flown multiple times per day, at a low cost,” continued the company explanation.
“With high-frequency, high-altitude capability, the Mk-II will become an indispensable platform for microgravity, hypersonics, earth observation and atmospheric science for research, defense, education, and emergency response communities.”
The Mk-II Aurora spaceplane demonstrator already has made 50 successful flights and recently saw completion of the first campaign using rocket engines.
Founded in 2017 by Stefan Powell, Jeroen Wink, Tobias Knop, James Powell and Robert Werner, Dawn’s operations are divided between the Netherlands and New Zealand and sales in the U.S.
The website indicated Dawn Aerospace is also a green propulsion provider to satellites, with operations spanning France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United States. The company offers turnkey propulsion systems for a wide range of satellites, including NanoSat, MicroSat, ESPA, and ESPA Grande-class satellites. Dawn Aerospace has hardware on 25 satellites on orbit, with customers in more than 10 countries including France, Germany, Netherlands, the USA, Italy, Spain, India, Japan, Canada, Indonesia, and Korea.
The Space Industry Development Authority will meet Friday morning at 10 o’clock at the Oklahoma Department of Transportation Commission Room.