Defence Trials

Hypersonic Rocket Trials

The successful initiation of HyShot sounding rocket flights by the University of Queensland (UQ) to test advanced scramjet propulsion (refer to HyShot trials) has precipitated a series of Defence-sponsored hypersonic trials led by the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) and involving UQ and other Australian and international partners. HyShot-3 and HyShot-4 carrying scramjet payloads were launched in March 2006, each involving Terrier-Orion rockets launched from the large ex-JAXA launcher installed for the NEXST program. More recently, a heavy-duty Talos-Castor vehicle carrying a scramjet payload developed by UQ and the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and partners was launched on 15 June 2007 (pictured) under project HyCAUSE (Hypersonic Collaborative Australia / United States Experiment). The vehicle reached an apogee of ~500 km and impacted at a down-range distance of ~450 km after achieving Mach 10 at re-entry. Refer to UQ’s Centre for Hypersonics website for images and video clips of the HyShot and HyCAUSE flights.

Ongoing hypersonic trials are planned at Woomera by DSTO and the US Air Force Research Laboratory under a ~6 year collaborative program known as HIFiRE (Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation). Up to ten HIFiRE sounding rocket flights are intended commencing in 2008, with the possibility of a follow-on program.