• Venus Aerospace reveals new hypersonic plane design
  • Titomic installs coldspray system for a UK aerospace player
  • Weebit Nano has taped-out its ReRAM module to SkyWater Technology

 

Hypersonic tech is all the rage right now, and even Hollywood enlisted Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works to help develop their fictional hypersonic jet for Top Gun: Maverick.

But there’s a new real hypersonic plane in the works.

Startup Venus Aerospace has unveiled its new Mach 9 hypersonic plane design which it claims is capable of circling the earth in one hour.

The company says the ‘Stargazer’ is the next-generation hypersonic drone as well as a crewed aircraft, and would take off from a conventional airport at subsonic speeds before travelling to the edge of outer space at around 51,826m.

The proposed dimensions are 30.5m wide by 46m long, and the plane would weigh 68,039kgs and holding a maximum of 12 passengers.

Here’s what it will look like:

 

 

The company hopes to start subsonic and supersonic drone testing next year.

 

Who’s got tech news out today?

 

TITOMIC (ASX:TTT)

Staying on the aerospace theme, cold spray additive manufacturing tech player Titomic has installed a Titomic TKF1000 cold spray system at leading technology and research organisation, TWI UK (TWI).

TWI is an independent research and technology organisations with expertise in materials joining and engineering processes.

Basically, the TKF1000 will use Titomic Kinetic Fusion (TKF) supersonic metal powder cold spray to create industrial-scale parts and complex surface coatings for TWI’s aerospace project.

This particle build-up rapidly produces near-net-shape parts made from the fusion of metals, which require minimal machining, and can increase productivity, lower costs, and reduce waste by 80 per cent compared to traditional machining.

The system is expected to play a key role in the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) program – a £3.9 billion joint government and industry initiative to offer funding for research and technology development in the UK, to maintain and grow the UK’s competitive position in civil aerospace.

It’s also expected to help TWI and its industrial members complete a portfolio of projects under the umbrella of the cold spray additive manufacturing project, due to be completed by the end of 2022.

Titomic says now that the TKF 1000 is installed, it will recognise revenue from the sale and installation of £1.2 million (AU$2.2 million) and this amount will be reflected in Titomic’s FY22 figures.

 

WEEBIT NANO (ASX:WBT)

Weebit Nano taped-out (released to manufacturing) demonstration chips integrating its embedded Resistive Random-Access Memory (ReRAM) module to SkyWater Technology’s foundry.

It’s first tape-out of Weebit’s ReRAM technology to a production fab which the company says is a major milestone toward commercialisation.

The technology will be available on SkyWater’s 130nm CMOS process, which is ideal for applications such as analog, power management, automotive, IoT and medical.

SkyWater customers can now use the highly integrated demo chip as the final platform for testing and prototyping ahead of volume production.

“This successful tape- out concludes the technology transfer to SkyWater’s US production fab, and once the chips are back from the fab, we will proceed with technology qualification,” CEO Coby Hanoch said.

“We’re in discussions with early-adopter customers looking to leverage our faster, more efficient memory technology to increase their competitiveness in the market.”

 

 

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