Dawn Aerospace flew the first civil supersonic flight since Concorde

Dawn's Mk-II Aurora climbed out of Glentanner Aerodrome under rocket power on 12 November 2024 and passed Mach 1.1 at 82,500 feet. No civil aircraft had broken the sound barrier since Concorde, and none had ever done it from New Zealand. Aurora takes off and lands from an ordinary runway, which is what lets it fly again the same day.

We backed Dawn Aerospace because the cost of reaching space still turns on whether the vehicle can be flown again, and a spaceplane that operates from a runway points at aircraft-style reuse rather than single-use rockets. This flight proved the hard part in the sky. The company also sells satellite propulsion units that ship today, which gives it a second business on the other side of the launch.

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