Stratodynamics Aviation Inc. was awarded $247K in funding from the Canadian Space Agency for further research in suborbital aerodynamics and remote sensing from its HiDRON glider. A company spokesperson told SpaceQ the glider concept is part of a larger long term plan to evolve the HiDRON into a suborbital space plane which could one day be used on Mars.
Stratodynamics has already set records with its current HiDRON glider. Now with the new funding the company is moving forward with the development of its next aerial platform called the HiDRON Suborbital (SO) Space Plane.
In an email to SpaceQ, Nick Craine, the company’s Business Development Lead, told us the “HiDRON SO is a pathfinder for Mars flyer concepts as it is purpose built for flight in extreme low Reynolds numbers environment. We see a far term use case for long range, energy efficient surveying.”
The new HiDRON SO “will have a 6kg, 5U payload capacity and offer the most cost effective access to the stratosphere with the ability to return the payload to launch.” The HiDRON is used primarily for Earth observation.
While the company is marketing the HiDRON SO as a suborbital space plane, the HiDRON SO will reach an altitude of 30km as its predecessor did. That’s a far cry from the Karman line, typically used to mark the beginning of space at 100km. However, the company did say this was a an evolving concept with long range plans including potential use on Mars.
Stratodynamics is partnered with the University of Waterloo who are helping working on the fluid dynamics and wireless communications of HiDRON.
Prof. George Shaker, Director, Wireless Sensors and Devices Lab, University of Waterloo said in a press release “I am excited about collaborating with Stratodynamics and the Canadian Space Agency on developing the next generation gliders for earth observation. With many novel aspects planned for this project, I trust that the outcomes will have long lasting benefits to the broader Canadian space sector.”
His colleague Serhiy Yarusevych, Fluid Mechanics Research Laboratory, University of Waterloo, said “This project will push the boundaries of controlled glider flight to suborbital elevations, which presents unique challenges in aerodynamics. Our team is excited to embark on this collaborative research with Stratodynamics and the Canadian Space Agency that will both advance the state of the art in stratospheric flight and provide solutions for efficient high-altitude data collection and observation.”
Stratodynamics had previously received funding from C-Core’s LOOKNorth as part of its Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) program which is also a Canadian Space Agency funded program.