Russian firm ISON has been tasked with building the spaceship for Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, with test flights scheduled for 2023. Russia has kept details of the drone under wraps, but news agency RIA Novosti – a state operated organisation – has been permitted to release some information. The rocket will be fitted with a single Briz-M upper stage engine, which has been in use by Russia since 2000, and will fly 100 miles (160 kilometres) above the Earth’s surface in a layer of the atmosphere known as the thermosphere.
Astonishingly, the rocket will break the speed of sound seven times over, known as Mach 7, and will be able to travel at 5,370 mph – more than twice as fast as the quickest jet in the world, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird which holds the world record of travelling at 2,193 mph.
The drone is also reusable, and is designed to last for 50 flights.
The drone will initially be carried into the atmosphere by a special aircraft, where, when near space, it will lift off almost vertically.
Once its flight is complete, it will return to Earth by deploying a series of parachutes.
News agency RIA Novosti reports: “At the development stage, the project received 25 million rubles (£293,470) of investment from the Project Technika Corporation, as well as 30 million (£352,165) from the Skolkovo Foundation as a grant.”
ISON general director Yuri Bakhvalov told RIA Novosti that 280 million rubles (£3,286,831) is needed from private investment now.
This is not the first hypersonic drone which Russia is supposedly manufacturing.
In August last year, Russian firm MiG announced it was making a hypersonic military jet which also has the ability to enter space.
However, this is unlikely to be ready before 2035.