6,900mph Business Jet Accelerates Into Reality

John E. Kaye
- Published
- Aviation, Business Travel, Home, News

A concept airliner that would fly eight times faster than a speeding bullet has completed early flight testing in a development that could see one of the world’s most ambitious aviation projects go from science fiction to science fact.
Venus Aerospace’s ‘Stargazer’ is a proposed Mach-9 business jet which, if built, will travel at more than 6,900mph, or nine times the speed of sound.
It will use conventional engines to take off but experimental ‘rotating detonation’ ones to propel it between cities such as New York and Tokyo in just one hour.
Rotating detonation rocket engines (RDREs) are already being tested by NASA, which believes they represent the future of deep space travel.
Venus says parts of Stargazer’s RDRE propulsion system together with its flight controls and stability have now been successfully tested using an eight-foot-long drone.
A substantial amount of useful data was obtained from the test flight, which saw the 300lb drone dropped from an altitude of 12,000ft and accelerate to Mach 0.9.
The unmanned aircraft was powered by a hydrogen peroxide monopropellant engine, which was purposefully restricted to prevent it from exceeding Mach 1.
Andrew Duggleby, Venus Aerospace’s co-founder, said: “Using an air-launched platform and a rocket-with-wing configuration allows us to cheaply and quickly get to the minimum viable test of our RDRE as a hypersonic engine.
“The team executed with professionalism and has a wealth of data to anchor and tweak for the next flight.”
Venus Aerospace, a startup based in Texas, US, has been working on the Stargazer concept since 2020, having raised USD$33 million in funding so far.
It would reportedly fly at an altitude of around 170,000 ft – high enough to see the planet’s curve and the blackness of space – at a hypersonic speed of 6,905mph.
Hypersonic is defined as five times the speed of sound. By comparison, the Concorde, travelled at Mach 2, or about, 1,535 mph. The fastest aircraft ever built, Lockheed’s SR-71 Blackbird, travelled at Mach 3.2 (2,455 mph).
At those speeds, journeys between major connecting cities such as New York and Tokyo would take about 60 minutes.
The jet will carry around a dozen passengers and measure 150ft long and 100ft wide, Venus says.
Co-Founder Sarah “Sassie” Duggleby said the next step in Stargazer’s journey will be test flights at unrestricted, RDRE speeds.
She added: “This is how you do hard things: one bite at a time. Up next is RDRE flight, and ultimately hypersonic flight, proving that the RDRE is the engine that unlocks the hypersonic economy.”

Main image © Venus Aerospace
Sign up to The European Newsletter
RECENT ARTICLES
-
Inside London’s £1bn super-hotel with £20k penthouses, private butlers and a gilded eagle
-
Kia America hits record monthly sales as EV demand surges
-
Trump family’s crypto debut adds $5bn to fortune amid ethics row
-
Warren Buffett turns 95 – the secrets behind a $130 billion fortune
-
Most game developers now using AI in their workflows, Google Cloud study finds
-
BlackRock takes $89m stake in Freedom Holding, emerging as second-largest shareholder
-
Welcome to Britain’s most exclusive founders’ network with £1M entry bar
-
Portugal’s GR22 crowned Europe’s most rewarding hiking trail
-
Music faces a bum note without elephant dung, new research warns
-
Fermi America secures $350m in financing led by Macquarie Group
-
Cambodia to rename key highway after Donald Trump for brokering peace deal
-
Want your business to succeed? Start with your own wellbeing, say SME leaders
-
The five superyacht shows that matter most
-
Short circuit: humanoids go for gold at first 'Olympics for robots'
-
Return to sender? Royal Mail’s red boxes go high-tech
-
New IBM–NASA AI aims to forecast solar flares before they knock out satellites or endanger astronauts
-
Uber plots Channel Tunnel disruption with app-bookable high-speed trains
-
Global tech leaders back Nigeria’s $1 trillion digital ambition at GITEX Nigeria 2025
-
Scientists are racing to protect sea coral with robots and AI as heatwaves devastate reefs
-
Game, set...wax. Billie Jean King statue unveiled in New York
-
Vegas on a losing streak as visitors drop 11%
-
The European launches new Digital Content Exchange Network
-
Munich unveils new hydrogen lab as Europe steps up green energy race
-
Dubai Humanitarian launches film highlighting $48m global aid effort
-
Inside MINISO’s new giant Amsterdam store aimed at Europe’s Gen Z shoppers