Venus Aerospace Tests Breakthrough RDRE Engine With First Flight in US
In a hypersonic propulsion milestone, Houston-based startup Venus Aerospace has announced the first successful U.S. test flight of a rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE). The test took place at 9:37 a.m. EDT on Wednesday (May 14) at Spaceport America in New Mexico and was a big technological leap. A compact test rocket, equipped with Venus’s experimental RDRE, lifted off successfully, confirming the engine’s operational potential beyond simulations. Venus believes this milestone brings them closer to affordable and sustainable high-speed flight from conventional runways using revolutionary aerospace systems.
Venus Aerospace Validates RDRE in Flight, Paving Way for Mach 6 Hypersonic Travel from Runways
As per the report by Venus Aerospace, the RDRE flight represents the first time such a technology has been successfully tested in the U.S. using real-world flight input. CEO Sassie Duggleby said this was the product of five years of working on making hypersonic travel scalable and practical.
Her comments highlighted that the engine is now officially in active flight, after initially being displayed under control. The concept of the RDRE is essentially to improve thrust and fuel efficiency by swapping out conventional combustion for a rotating detonation wave.
Projected to have speeds up to Mach 6, or six times the speed of sound, the technology might allow launch from runways without the need for launchers. Venus’s RDRE works alongside its VDR2 air-breathing detonation ramjet, forming a complete propulsion system for sustained hypersonic travel.
Andrew Duggleby, CTO, said the milestone shows the engine performing well without the laboratory-type conditions in place, and that now they have flight data that the capability is scalable. The pairing he’s written about does away with the need for complicated multi-stage rockets or external boosters, laying the foundation for how high-speed transport could change.
Rotating detonation offers a more efficient, compact, and higher-pressure propulsion system. But with the atmospheric testing behind it, the company is shifting its attention toward full-scale propulsion testing of the Stargazer M4, a Mach 4-capable reusable passenger aircraft.
Venus Aerospace is incorporating the successful RDRE design into commercial aerospace applications to establish a new era of commercial and military aviation brought closer together at fast, fuel-efficient hypersonic aeroplane speeds.
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Astronomers international team has employed various satellites and telescopes for performing multiwavelength observations of a supernova remnant known as SNR J0450.4-7050. The result that scientists got after an observational campaign, published on June 18, 2025, on the preprint server arXiv, gained new insights into the properties of this remnant, and observed that it is much larger than thought in the past. Supernova remnants (SNRs) are expanded structures resulting from the explosion of a supernova. It usually lasts for several hundred thousand years before the time it disperses into the interstellar medium.
Multiwavelength Observations Reveal New Details of SNR J0450.4-7050
As per the study by NASA, observations by the scientists indicate that SNRs contain the ejected expansion of material from the explosion and other interstellar material swept by the passage of the shockwave from the star that exploded. SNR studies beyond the Milky Way are important for comprehending the feedback in different evolutionary phases and gaining valuable insights into the local ISM. The Large Magellanic Cloud is the galaxy that has its SNR population explored in depth.
Importance of Studying Supernova Remnants Beyond the Milky Way
The recent observations reveal that SNR J0450.4-7050, a large supernova remnant in the LMC having physical dimensions of 332 by 244 light years, is estimated to have the remnants of around 45,000 years old. Scientists named it Veliki, which means large in Serbian. It also showcases the complex filamentary morphology with different inner and outer shell structures.
Discovery of Veliki: A Large, Aged Remnant in the Large Magellanic Cloud
An astronomer’s group led by Zachary J. Smeaton decided to take a closer observation of SNR J0450.4−7050 by the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder and MeerKAT radio telescope. The SNR showed a high radial surface brightness with one of the lowest average radio spectral indices, with similar remnants.
Unusual Radio Properties Suggest Veliki is a Fully Radiative SNR
These unusual features, according to the scientists, give the prediction that Veliki is mainly a radiative SNR with a high shock compression ratio. This states about the non-thermal spectrum and higher surface brightness and emissions. Further observations of the surrounding environment are needed to confirm the hypothesis with an understanding of the remnants’ nature in a better way.
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