Space plane start-up promises one-hour rides to anywhere on Earth

Venus Aerospace Corp., a startup pursuing a hypersonic space plane, is aiming to ferry people from Los Angeles to Tokyo in about an hour

Travelling in a space plane is a lot like travelling in a regular plane, except for the middle part. After reaching cruising altitude, the pilot hits the rocket boosters and blasts the aircraft to the edge of space at more than 9,000 mph, or about 12 times the speed of sound. The plane travels at that speed for about 15 minutes, then glides against the atmo­sphere to slow itself down. Venus Aerospace Corp., a startup pursuing a hypersonic space plane, is aiming to use this technique to ferry people from Los Angeles to Tokyo in about an hour. 

The company was started by two former Virgin Orbit LLC employees: Sarah “Sassie” Duggleby, a code-writing launch engineer, and her husband, Andrew. They became fascinated by hypersonic travel after missing Sassie’s grandmother’s 95th birthday party because the flights were too long from Japan, where they were living at the time. So they left Virgin last June to build their own space plane.

The Dugglebys say their space plane will differ from past efforts because it has a more efficient engine, allowing it to handle the extra weight that comes with having the wings, landing gear, and jet engines that enable takeoffs and landings similar to a passenger airplane. The company will begin testing three scale models this summer.