Kacey Roberts
Rocket Lab USA has inked an agreement with the Defense Innovation Unit to conduct a Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron mission featuring a scramjet-powered hypersonic vehicle constructed by Australian company Hypersonix.
The DART AE vehicle, capable of achieving speeds of up to Mach 7 with non-ballistic flight patterns, is set to launch from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island as early as the first quarter of 2025, Rocket Lab said Wednesday.
The high-cadence testing mission will highlight HASTE’s direct inject capability by releasing the Hypersonix suborbital payload during its ascent within the Earth’s atmosphere.
Operational oversight for this mission, which represents the seventh suborbital launch contract awarded to Rocket Lab this year, will be entrusted to Rocket Lab’s National Security subsidiary.
