Specter Aerospace, a hypersonic flight startup, announced that it has raised $9.5 million in funding from the US Department of Defense (DoD) and two venture capital firms, CS Ventures and Mandala Ventures.
While the government portion of the funds had already been allocated, the investment has only now been publicly disclosed.
There has been much activity in the field of hypersonics in recent months, with Swiss-based Destinus presenting its prototypes at the 2023 Paris Air Show, and its competitors Australia-based Hypersonix Launch System and US-based Hermeus proceeding apace with their respective test programs.
Specter Aerospace, which is based in Boston, United States, was set up in 2013 as FGC Plasma Solutions to develop plasma-assisted advanced propulsion technologies that enable aircraft to fly at hypersonic speeds, that is Mach 5 and faster.
The startup’s technology, which was developed with the support of the Argonne National Laboratory, a research center managed by the United States Department of Energy and the University of Chicago, uses plasma injection to stabilize combustion in hypersonic jet and rocket engines offering reduced emissions and fuel consumption.
The company claims this technology, which it expects to launch commercially in 2024, can also help conventional jet engines reduce fuel combustion and emissions.
