The US has taken an important step towards realizing hypersonic flight: Houston-based startup Venus Aerospace has successfully tested a rotary detonation rocket engine (RDRE) for the first time, a technology that has been the subject of research for decades.
Historic! Detonation flight complete. RDRE flight was perfect – first of its kind. Well done @VenusAerospace team!
7 seconds at high acceleration off a rail at @Spaceport_NM in New Mexico. #Detonation #RDREhttps://t.co/LRWzAII9fa pic.twitter.com/VBmtARdGIE
— Andrew Duggleby (@aduggleby) May 14, 2025
RDRE, which launches aircraft not by traditional combustion but by a continuous series of detonations, could provide a revolution in transportation. Instead of a steady combustion of fuel, the engine generates shock blast waves that travel through an annular channel and create thrust, propelling the aircraft forward at speeds that could potentially exceed six times the speed of sound.
Seven seconds of flight for $84 million dollars
Historic! Detonation flight complete. RDRE flight was perfect – first of its kind. Well done @VenusAerospace team!
7 seconds at high acceleration off a rail at @Spaceport_NM in New Mexico. #Detonation #RDREhttps://t.co/LRWzAII9fa pic.twitter.com/VBmtARdGIE
— Andrew Duggleby (@aduggleby) May 14, 2025
On May 14, 2025, the company conducted the first in-flight test of such an engine in the United States. A small RDRE with a thrust of about 900 kg was launched from Spaceport America in New Mexico. The backpack-sized engine ran for seven seconds, lifted the rocket to an altitude of more than 1,300 meters and accelerated it to a speed of more than 600 km/h. After a short flight, the rocket successfully landed using a parachute.
Venus Aerospace invested four years of research and a portion of an $84 million venture capital investment to turn the RDRE from a theoretical development into an actual working engine. “The most amazing thing is not only that the engine works, but that it is many times cheaper than traditional systems,” said CEO Sarah Duggleby.
Simple, reliable and low cost design
The RDRE has no moving parts at all, can be printed on a 3D printer in a week, and runs on fuel that is safely stored. According to engineers, this makes it at least ten times cheaper to produce and operate than conventional jet or rocket engines. And it’s compact, lightweight and efficient — perfect for high-speed airplanes, military vehicles or satellite launches.
RDRE technology has been in development since the 1980s, but only now it has been put into practice. The secret of the technology is a stable detonation that creates a supersonic wave with powerful thrust, reducing fuel consumption. In the future, such engines will be able to launch into space four times more cargo than current rockets, as well as provide fast flights between continents — for example, from New York to Tokyo in 1 hour.
From fiction to reality
Venus Aerospace plans to deploy the first commercial RDREs in the early 2030s. The company is actively working to scale the technology and is in discussions with potential customers, including U.S. defense agencies.
There are still many stages of testing and improvement ahead, but the successful flight has already proved: technology that once seemed like science fiction is becoming a reality. And if all goes according to plan, hypersonic travel could be part of our everyday lives within decades.
Previously, we explained the simple physics of rocket engines.
According to Aerospaceamerica
