Destinus Hyperplane, Fastest delivery vehicle today

Destinus Hyperplane is a rocket airplane built for speed that combines the technological advancements of a spaceplane with the simple physics of a glider to create a vehicle that satisfies a hyper connected world making it the fastest delivery vehicle in the world.

What to know about Destinus

Destinus company logo

Destinus a Switzerland-based startup company that develops technology to unite the world through Aviation and Aerospace component manufacturing is an interesting innovation to know about. The company is founded in March 2021, by Mikhail Kokorich. Destinus operates offices in 5 countries with headquarters in Payerne. having a multinational team of more than 20 nationalies.

The company to provide their hyper express delivery service requires an extremely high-speed and high-altitude flight. Destinus is developing hydrogen-powered vehicles and the associated infrastructure to power the world’s fastest and cleanest transportation system. These vehicles will be a hybrid between airplanes and rockets, giving them the name “Hyperplanes”, capable of moving cargo between continents within 2 hours. They will take off and land horizontally at airports using air-jet engines.

November, 2021, the company flew its car-sized first prototype, which is called Jungfrau, for five minutes at an airport near Munich at subsonic speeds to assess its performance and aerodynamics during take-off and landing. Jungfrau was designed, built, and tested in four months and is now being used as a testbed for autonomous technologies, said Destinus.

Destinus Jungfrua hyperplane prototype on test track

Funding

The company has raised US$29 million (26.8 million Swiss francs) for its campaign to off the hydrogen-powered supersonic flight. The capital has been invested by venture funds and family offices from including Conny and Co, Quiet Capital, One Way Ventures, Liquid2 Ventures, Cathexis Ventures, ACE & Company.

The Spanish research program, which was announced earlier in the month March 2023 has been set up to develop a hydrogen-powered aircraft engine, with the first tests scheduled for 2025.

The research program is being led by aero engine manufacturer ITP Aero. Other consortium members alongside Destinus include fuel cell company Ajusa and aerospace systems and structures company Aerotecnic.

As part of the research program a €12 million (US$12.9 million) grant from the Spanish Government will be used to fund the construction of a test facility for air-breathing hydrogen engines that Destinus said it will help “design and iterate”.

A second €15 million (US$16.6 million) grant will be used to investigate aspects of liquid hydrogen-powered propulsion systems for supersonic hydrogen-powered aircraft.

Destinus is expected to receive around a €10 million (US$10.75 million) share of the funding.

Destinus Hyperplane Specifications and Operation

Unlike conventional planes, Destinus Hyperplanes would switch to a set of rocket engines that will accelerate the vehicle to hypersonic velocity once at a certain altitude and speed. The engines will be powered by hydrogen, produced from renewable energy sources, for zero-carbon transportation. The hyperplane will complete its entire flight autonomously, from take-off to landing, and transmit telemetry data via ground and satellite communication systems during flight.

The vehicles are called near-space vehicles or Hyperplanes because they fly in-between current airplane envelopes and low altitude satellites. Not like rocket space craft’s multistage and vertical take-off, Destinus designed the hyperplane as single stage to destination (SSTD) with horizontal take-off and horizontal landing (HTHL) systems.

How the Destinus Hyperplane fly

According to Destinus Concept of Operations (CONOPS), the hyperplane takes-off from a starting Hyperport, an airport with integrated infrastructure for hydrogen handling and with a mission control center for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), from one continent to deliver cargo to a far destination hyperport in another continent. The flight takes less than 2 hours (compared to the usual current 24h, with two or more flight segments), releases no CO2 emissions (compared to the usual hundreds of tons using jet fuel).

The fight is composed of multiple phases: Take off is horizontal from a common airport runway and a first acceleration phase is performed with an advanced airbreathing engine. Operations are similar to those of a normal airplane, with the difference that the vehicles quickly start climbing and accelerating to supersonic velocities in regions where noise boom is not a problem. The hyperplane keep gaining altitude and speed during a high-altitude climb phase as the chemical rocket engine gets ignited.

The chemical boost aids the hyperplane to reach the mesosphere at altitudes above 50 km and hypersonic speeds above Mach 10 during the cruise phase. In comparison, intercontinental airplanes typically reach the cruise phase around 11 km in altitude and at a velocity of Mach 0.8 (below the speed of sound). It cruises at hypersonic speed in a low gravitational environment for about 30 minutes.

At those high velocities, it’s difficult to keep the structure cold. For that reason, Destinus is developing a unique active cooling system solution that converts the thermal energy generated by the friction with air into propulsion. The cooling system would keep the structure cold enough to survive the external hot flow conditions, while powering the rocket engines.

Once closer to the destination, the craft gently reduce the amount of thrust generated and enter progressively into a gliding phase. Finally, during the approach and landing phase, the air-breathing engine is reactivated and integrates the unmanned hyperplane into the destination air traffic.

The logistic team receives delivery of the cargo after landing.  A vehicle maintenance phase start on ground. The objectives are to inspect Destinus hyperplane and to prepare it for the next flight.

In conclusion, the hyperplane and the mission are optimized to achieve the company’s goals to provide the fastest delivery service in the world and to prepare for a new type of express delivery!

A major area of improvement according to Founders Fund is overcoming the tyranny of distance. Cheaper, faster transportation has been a major lubricator of trade and wealth creation. Over the past thirty years, there have been no radical advances in transportation technology to cut the travel time across the Atlantic which for the first time since the industrial Revolution, is getting longer rather than shorter but Destinus has come to close the gap.