# Dawn Aurora Suborbital Flight Service
*launch services*

Dawn Aerospace Aurora is an uncrewed rocket-powered spaceplane service for routine suborbital access, payload testing, microgravity, high-altitude and high-speed flight profiles. Dawn lists a 100 km maximum altitude, Mach 3.7 top-speed target, 4 hour turnaround, and payload accommodation up to 15 kg on the Aurora vehicle page.

## Specifications
- **vehicle family**: Dawn Mk-II Aurora
- **entity type**: launch_service
- **last verified date**: 2026-06-10
- **verified by**: operator
- **claim status**: unclaimed
- **provider**: dawn-aerospace
- **attributes**: {"vehicle_family":"Dawn Mk-II Aurora","description":"Dawn Aerospace Aurora is an uncrewed rocket-powered spaceplane service for routine suborbital access, payload testing, microgravity, high-altitude and high-speed flight profiles. Dawn lists a 100 km maximum altitude, Mach 3.7 top-speed target, 4 hour turnaround, and payload accommodation up to 15 kg on the Aurora vehicle page."}
- **relevance**: ancillary

## Editorial
Dawn Aurora Suborbital Flight Service is an uncrewed, rocket-powered spaceplane service operated by Dawn Aerospace, offering suborbital access for payload testing, microgravity research, atmospheric science, and high-speed flight profiles.[^dawn-aurora-spaceplane] The vehicle is the Dawn Mk-II Aurora, based in Christchurch, New Zealand and Oklahoma, United States as of mid-2026.[^dawn-aurora-payloads] The vehicle targets a maximum altitude of roughly 100 km with a top speed of Mach 3.7 and a headline turnaround time of 4 hours between flights.[^dawn-aurora-spaceplane][^dawn-home] Operator pages list 15 kg as the headline maximum payload mass; payload bay text and home-page summary state 10 kg for custom payloads.[^dawn-aurora-spaceplane][^dawn-aurora-payloads][^dawn-home] Flight profiles include suborbital trajectories, microgravity and altered-gravity arcs, optical-payload pointing, and boost-glide high-Mach runs.[^dawn-aurora-payloads] Flight history lists campaigns for customers including Scout Space, Arizona State University, Cal Poly, Johns Hopkins APL, and a DARTE radar tracking campaign.[^dawn-aurora-flight-history]

## Sources
- [dawn-aurora-spaceplane] | Dawn Aerospace Aurora spaceplane overview | https://www.dawnaerospace.com/spaceplane | tier=operator-marketing | accessed=2026-06-10
- [dawn-aurora-payloads] | Dawn Aerospace Aurora payloads and missions | https://www.dawnaerospace.com/aurora-spaceplane-missions-and-payloads | tier=operator-marketing | accessed=2026-06-10
- [dawn-aurora-flight-history] | Dawn Aerospace Aurora flight campaigns | https://www.dawnaerospace.com/flight-history | tier=operator-marketing | accessed=2026-06-10
- [dawn-home] | Dawn Aerospace official website | https://www.dawnaerospace.com/ | tier=operator-marketing | accessed=2026-06-10

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Source: https://eo-atlas.org/launch_services/dawn-aurora-suborbital-flight-service
Maintainer: SpectraWorks B.V. (CC-BY 4.0)