After 47 jet-powered flights, Aurora transformed into a rocket-powered, record-setting suborbital spaceplane. Flights 48 through 62, conducted from 2023 to 2025, demonstrated a rapid cadence of testing and relentless innovation.
Flight testing is never smooth, and we faced our share of anomalies—radio glitches, high winds, and unexpected hardware challenges. Yet, this is where rapid reusability proves its worth. Each time, we simply landed, addressed the issue, and were often flying again within hours. These moments tested and ultimately proved the robustness of our systems and crew.
The campaign delivered historic milestones. In March 2023, we transitioned to rocket power, flying our in-house bi-propellant engine three times in three days. In October 2024, we demonstrated true operational tempo with two rocket-powered missions in a single day, just six hours apart. That November, Aurora went supersonic in an 85-degree climb, shattering the world record for time-to-climb to 20 km altitude in just 118 seconds.
The platform also proved its commercial value, flying four missions for U.S. customers and universities in mid-2025. These “Pathfinder” campaigns allowed partners to test advanced avionics, cameras, and prototype new services like space domain awareness. Demonstrating launch-site flexibility, all flights were conducted from two New Zealand locations: Tawhaki National Aerospace Centre and Glentanner Aerodrome.
The next, higher-performance iteration of Aurora is now in production. Designed to fly beyond 100 km altitude—the recognized boundary of space—multiple times per day, it will herald a new era of routine, reusable suborbital access. This is a definitive step toward our mission of scalable and sustainable space transportation.
