New Zealand company Dawn Aerospace flew its uncrewed Mk-II Aurora rocket plane to Mach 1.1 over Glentanner Aerodrome near Aoraki Mount Cook on 12 November 2024, making it the first civil aircraft to fly supersonic since Concorde retired in 2003.
The flight also broke a time-to-climb record that had stood since the 1970s. Dawn’s broader goal is a reusable vehicle that takes off from a normal runway, reaches space and flies again within hours, an approach that could lower the cost of reaching high altitude compared with single-use rockets.
The record flight
The Aurora is 4.8 metres long. On the record flight it climbed from the ground to 20 kilometres in 118.6 seconds, 4.2 seconds faster than a modified F-15 fighter jet that had held the mark since the 1970s, and reached 82,500 feet, more than twice the cruising height of a Boeing 747, according to AeroTime and New Atlas.
Built to fly again
Reusability is central to the design. On 27 September 2024, about six weeks before the supersonic run, Dawn flew the Aurora twice within eight hours from the same aerodrome, the company said. Chief executive Stefan Powell said at the time: “At present, we can fly every 4 hours with scope to reduce turnaround time further.” He added that certification as an aircraft was “essential to rapid reusability”, because it allows the vehicle to fly as often as the airframe permits.
Dawn is based in Christchurch and Delft in the Netherlands. Besides the spaceplane, it sells satellite propulsion systems, with more than 200 in orbit, according to Payload.
The raise
In June 2026 Dawn closed a US$25 million Series B at a US$195 million post-money valuation, led by Balerion Space Ventures, Payload reported. Mana Ventures, ANA Future Frontier Fund and NZVC also invested, alongside backers from New Zealand, Japan and the US, and Balerion general partner Dan Wallman joined the board. Payload reported revenue had grown from under US$3 million to more than US$15 million and that the business is cash-flow positive.
The funds will go towards developing Aurora and an in-orbit refuelling demonstration called Loop.
What’s next
The Aurora has not yet been to space. Dawn is targeting the start of Aurora operations in 2027, and its stated aim is to fly above the Kármán line, the 100 kilometre boundary of space, twice in a single day. It also has a partnership with the Oklahoma spaceport to operate the spaceplane in the US.
Jack’s take
The world waited 21 years for a civil aircraft to fly that fast again, and it was a Kiwi team that did it. The record gets the headlines, but two flights in eight hours is the part I would watch, because cheap and repeatable is what changes the economics of getting to space.