Plans underway by Swiss-start-up Destinus to develop a hydrogen-powered autonomous "near-space" hypersonic aircraft received a boost this week when it closed a $29 million seed funding round. The start-up expects to build the first full-scale prototype ready to start flight testing in 2025 or 2026 and believes it can get an initial cargo-carrying aircraft certified and in commercial service by 2027.
The funds raised from several venture capital groups and private backers will be used to develop the hydrogen airbreathing and rocket engines that will power the unnamed hyperplane aircraft. Destinus intends to use a hydrogen-fed air turborocket (ATR) engine for takeoff, landing, and flights at subsonic and supersonic speeds. A separate cryogenic rocket engine will boost the aircraft to hypersonic speeds that the company said would allow it to reach anywhere in the world in just one or two hours, operating at altitudes far above existing aircraft in the mesophere.
