Newsweek: Texas Company Introduces Aircraft It Says Can Fly From LA to Tokyo in 1 Hour

The Venus Aerospace startup, located in Houston, says the Mach 9 hypersonic aircraft will be capable of “one-hour global travel.”

The firm introduced their first conceptual vehicle design, the “Stargazer,” this month at the Up.Summit in Bentonville, Arkansas, which is home to Walmart.

They explained the Venus Vehicle Engineering Team has been working on this iteration ever since the company was founded in 2020.

A spokesperson for Venus Aerospace explained: “At Venus Aerospace we are building the world’s first Spaceplane that can fly at hypersonic speeds at the edge of the atmosphere. A Spaceplane that can take off from LAX and land in Tokyo in an hour, and then make the return flight to get you home for dinner.”

Backed by “leading venture capitalists,” Venus Aerospace said they have received $1 million in government funding for the project, adding: “Venus has since raised over $33 million to build a Mach 9 hypersonic drone and Mach 9 spaceplane, both capable of one-hour global travel.”

Venus Aerospace claims to have “scaled fast” in the last year, having designed and built its tech demonstration engine, executed key experiments at hypersonic wind tunnels and propulsion test facilities throughout the U.S., and started a ground test campaign at Spaceport Houston.

Over the next year they plan to start subsonic and supersonic flight testing of a scaled drone at nine times the speed of sound.

Venus Aerospace was founded by Sarah “Sassie” Duggleby, previously Launch Systems Engineering and Mission Management consultant at Virgin Orbit, and Dr. Andrew Duggleby, former head of launch operations at Virgin Orbit.

Their team consists of aerospace, military, and research and development veterans who are “pushing the boundaries of high-speed transportation.”