{"id":17262,"date":"2023-09-08T17:19:56","date_gmt":"2023-09-08T09:19:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/new-frontier-aerospace-aims-to-zoom-from-hypersonic-flights-past-into-its-future\/"},"modified":"2023-09-08T17:19:56","modified_gmt":"2023-09-08T09:19:56","slug":"new-frontier-aerospace-aims-to-zoom-from-hypersonic-flights-past-into-its-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/new-frontier-aerospace-aims-to-zoom-from-hypersonic-flights-past-into-its-future\/","title":{"rendered":"New Frontier Aerospace aims to zoom from hypersonic flight\u2019s past into its future"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full-width\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"630\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/230905-newfrontier-630x500.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-788430\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/230905-newfrontier-630x500.jpeg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/230905-newfrontier-1260x1000.jpeg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/230905-newfrontier-768x609.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/230905-newfrontier-1536x1219.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/230905-newfrontier.jpeg 1836w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" class=\"wp-element-caption\">New Frontier Aerospace\u2019s chief operating officer, David Gregory (at left), lays his hand on the company\u2019s Mj\u00f6lnir rocket engine while CEO Bill Bruner strikes what he calls his \u201cWernher von Braun pose\u201d with a 3D-printed model of the company\u2019s hypersonic rocket ship. (GeekWire Photo \/ Alan Boyle)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>TUKWILA, Wash. \u2014 Thirty years after the first flight of a pioneering reusable rocket ship known as the Delta Clipper Experimental, or DC-X, a commercial venture is aiming to bring its legacy to life in the Seattle area. Even its name \u2014 New Frontier Aerospace \u2014 is a callback to the earlier days of America\u2019s space effort, going back to John F. Kennedy references to outer space as part of his \u201cNew Frontier.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re sort of like the grandson of DC-X,\u201d New Frontier\u2019s co-founder and CEO, Bill \u201cBurners\u201d Bruner, said at the startup\u2019s headquarters in Tukwila. <\/p>\n<p>But he doesn\u2019t see New Frontier as a space launch venture in the strictest sense of the word. \u201cWe\u2019re not doing the squat, or cylindrical or conical shapes that we were talking about in those days,\u201d he told GeekWire. \u201cWe\u2019re proposing to combine the hypersonic research of the \u201950s, \u201960s and \u201970s, and some of those geometries, with reusable rockets to attack the trillion-dollar air transportation market instead of the $11 billion space launch market.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>New Frontier was founded in 2020 by Bruner, whose aerospace experience includes stint as an assistant administrator at NASA, as a policy director at the Pentagon, and as an Air Force colonel; Jess Sponable, who handled space programs at DARPA and the Air Force Research Laboratory and is now New Frontier\u2019s president and chief technology officer; and chief operating officer David Gregory, a veteran of rocket engine programs at Blue Origin and Ursa Major Technologies. The chairman is Alex Tai, who previously served as Virgin Galactic\u2019s chief operating officer.<\/p>\n<p>The startup is one of several companies whose prospects are on the rise partly because of the U.S. military\u2019s interest in hypersonic aerial vehicles that travel at more than five times the speed of sound. Like Stratolaunch \u2014 a company founded by the late Seattle billionaire Paul Allen more than a decade ago \u2014 New Frontier aims to help the Pentagon counter hypersonic threats from Russia and China.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"New Frontier Aerospace hypersonic aircraft - from vertical takeoff to vertical landing\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4nfA3lXfPn8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Bruner said New Frontier is taking a step-by-step approach, starting with the Pathfinder, a hypersonic vehicle that could be used for weapons testing or suborbital point-to-point cargo transport. The company has been awarded $2.25 million to develop the craft\u2019s 3D-printed Mj\u00f6lnir rocket engine, which is named after the hammer wielded by Thor in Norse mythology (and in Marvel movies). In June, New Frontier received an additional $150,000 from NASA for Mj\u00f6lnir development.<\/p>\n<p>Component testing for Mj\u00f6lnir is ramping up, with a full-up test firing scheduled for next spring. Meanwhile, New Frontier\u2019s hypersonic flight system one of 20 tech projects vying for prizes in the Army\u2019s xTechPacific competition for cutting-edge technologies that range from jet guns to wall-building robots. Up to 10 projects could be selected to receive cash prizes and opportunities for follow-up grants.<\/p>\n<p>Winners of the xTechPacific contest are due to be announced later this month, and Bruner said the recognition could accelerate New Frontier\u2019s drive to get its Pathfinder off the ground.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe program plan there is to start in earnest bending hardware for that,\u201d he said. \u201cIt would be about two years to an integrated ground test, and then the start of the flight test campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>New Frontier\u2019s team doesn\u2019t intend to stop there \u2014 but future development depends on future funding. \u201cAt about $15 million, we could fly that single-engine airplane,\u201d Bruner said. \u201cIt would be north of 30 [million dollars] to fly the three-engine airplane that really has practical utility.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The company aims to leverage several innovations that weren\u2019t around when the DC-X flew. For example, the engine as well as the airframe would make use of 3D printing \u2014 a technology pioneered by Relativity Space, another aerospace startup with Seattle roots.<\/p>\n<p>Bruner said the engine is designed to run on renewable natural gas, which makes use of the smelly gases produced by decomposition at landfills and water treatment plants, or by defecation in livestock facilities. \u201cRenewable liquid natural gas is net carbon-negative, because you\u2019re removing the methane that would otherwise have been dumped into the atmosphere,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n<p>New Frontier could also take advantage of the work that\u2019s being done to foster the return of commercial supersonic flight \u2014 including Boom Supersonic\u2019s development of a new faster-than-sound passenger jet and NASA\u2019s efforts to turn down the volume on sonic booms. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"New Frontier Aerospace - Faster and Cleaner Than Jets 3\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NaXm2rayDsw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<\/figure>\n<p>If New Frontier\u2019s vision becomes a reality, its hypersonic aircraft could be used not only for weapons systems and cargo delivery, but for intercontinental passenger travel as well. Bruner has already called dibs on his preferred term for what New Frontier plans to build. \u201cJust like in the \u201950s \u2014 when everybody said, \u2018Well, that\u2019s a jetliner\u2019 \u2014 people will call these \u2018rocketliners,&#8217;\u201d he said. \u201cAnd on the chance that that happens, I trademarked it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Does New Frontier have a realistic chance of opening up the rocketliner age? Bruner noted that one of his co-founders, Jess Sponable, was a program manager for the DC-X \u2014 and that David Gregory, New Frontier\u2019s third co-founder, helped create Blue Origin\u2019s BE-3 engine as well as Ursa Major\u2019s Hadley engine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would say our odds of success, if properly funded, are pretty darn near 100%,\u201d Bruner said. \u201cAll they\u2019ve got to do is replicate what they did before.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Washington\u2019s other xTech entrants<\/h3>\n<p>New Frontier Aerospace is one of eight Washington state ventures on the Army\u2019s list of finalists in the xTechPacific competition. Other Washington finalists include:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Monroe-based AIM Intelligent Machines, which is developing autonomous machines for construction and material handling.<\/li>\n<li>Kirkland-based Echodyne, which produces radar technology for drones and sensor networks.<\/li>\n<li>Seattle-based Overland AI, which is developing technologies for autonomous off-road vehicles.<\/li>\n<li>Seattle-based Pertinacious Holdings, which is working on a wall-building robot nicknamed Wally.<\/li>\n<li>Everett-based Wave Motion Launch Corp., which is building a jet-gun launcher for projectile payloads.<\/li>\n<li>Bingen-based Zepher Flight Labs, which is developing hydrogen-electric drones that take off and land vertically.<\/li>\n<li>Spokane-based Zylinium Communications, a stealth venture that\u2019s working on a generative adversarial receiver.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Other finalists are headquartered in Alaska and Hawaii. Up to 10 projects will be selected to receive $25,000 cash prizes and the opportunity to seek small-business grants worth up to $1.9 million. Winners are to be announced Sept. 19.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New Frontier Aerospace\u2019s chief operating officer, David Gregory (at left), lays his hand on the company\u2019s Mj\u00f6lnir rocket engine while CEO Bill Bruner strikes what he calls his \u201cWernher von Braun pose\u201d with a 3D-printed model of the company\u2019s hypersonic rocket ship. (GeekWire Photo \/ Alan Boyle) TUKWILA, Wash. \u2014 Thirty years after the first [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4537,4435,4436],"class_list":["post-17262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-dc-x","tag-hypersonic-flight","tag-new-frontier-aerospace"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17262"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17262\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}