Venus Aerospace achieves hypersonic engine advancement
April 18, 2025
US-based startup Venus Aerospace has announced a milestone in the development of its hypersonic engine, with a key breakthrough set to be demonstrated in a flight test later this summer.
The company, which is working on compact and efficient propulsion systems for high-speed flight, completed a critical hot-fire test of its Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE) using new nozzle designs developed with support from NASA.
The test was funded through NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) programme, which backs emerging aerospace technologies.
Venus says the new nozzle designs performed beyond expectations and will be integrated into its next flight-ready engine.
The firm claims its RDRE, which relies on supersonic shockwaves known as detonations to generate thrust, delivers more power while consuming less fuel than conventional rocket engines. It is also the first US-developed RDRE designed to be scalable and affordable for real-world use.
“We’ve already proven our engine outperforms traditional systems on both efficiency and size,” said CEO Sassie Duggleby, who called the latest progress “one step closer” to demonstrating compact, cost-effective hypersonic flight. The company’s CTO, Andrew Duggleby, added that the technology is ready for a wide range of applications across aerospace and defence, offering unprecedented speed, range, and agility.
The upcoming flight test is expected to showcase the full capabilities of Venus’s integrated propulsion platform, which features a unique single-engine architecture.
Unlike typical high-speed systems that require multiple engines for different flight stages, the Venus engine is designed to handle takeoff, acceleration, and hypersonic cruise in one compact unit.
The company says this design significantly reduces cost, weight, and complexity—potentially enabling hypersonic aircraft to reach speeds of Mach 5+ directly from a runway.
Venus’s system is also being pitched for future spacecraft landers, satellite deployment, cargo transfer in space, and advanced missile systems.
