Venus Aerospace is a start-up company founded by Sarah “Sassie” Duggleby and Dr. Andrew Duggleby. The company’s goal is to build a Mach 9 supersonic aircraft that can carry passengers around the world and return within the same day. The new aircraft is the result of a design process that began when the company was born in 2020. Since then, Venus Aerospace has attracted $33 million in investment. The company’s team of experts develops three key technologies, a next-generation zero-emission rocket engine, a unique aircraft design, and high-end cooling, all aimed at enabling space aircraft to take off from existing airports and infrastructure.

“We work with NASA at Johnson Space Center and have access to information from the sonic boom test in the Space Shuttle program,” Duggleby said. “We determined that at high altitude and high speed, you won’t hear the plane’s sound. We can fly at 51,816 meters at Mach 9.”

In a short period of time, Venus Aerospace has developed and built technology demonstration engines, conducted many important tests in supersonic wind tunnels and thrust test facilities across the United States, started the ground testing at the Houston airport. Venus Aerospace will begin subsonic and supersonic flight tests with small prototypes next year.