How Venus Aerospace is engineering the first Mach 9 passenger jet

Venus Aerospace is pioneering the development of the first Mach 9 hypersonic passenger jet, the Stargazer M4, leveraging innovative propulsion technology centered on rotating detonation rocket engines (RDRE) combined with air-breathing ramjets. Hypersonic flight, defined as speeds above Mach 5, could drastically reduce global travel times to under four hours, effectively collapsing global distances. Venus Aerospace CEO Sassie Duggleby highlights that this technology could enable passengers to circumnavigate the globe within a single day, marking a transformative shift in aviation. The RDRE technology, originally conceptualized in the 1950s through Soviet research, utilizes detonation waves traveling around an annular combustion chamber to burn fuel more efficiently than conventional rocket engines that rely on deflagration. Advances in computational modeling, materials science, and experimental testing—such as NASA’s 2023 successful 251-second test firing of a 3D-printed RDRE producing 5,800 lbs of thrust—have