United Airlines Ventures (UAV), the venture capital arm of United Airlines, announced an investment in aerospace startup Astro Mechanica. Astro Mechanica’s adaptive propulsion concept and advanced airframe design have the potential to unlock supersonic aircraft with near-term applications for national defense, orbital launch, and long-range cargo delivery.
UAV was established in 2021 to invest in early-stage start-up companies focused on innovative technologies with the potential to shape the future of aviation and travel.
Astro Mechanica’s engine, Duality, is being designed to utilize a hybrid electric architecture, optimizing performance across a wide range of flight speeds and profiles. This design would create an engine that is efficient from takeoff to Mach 3+. With these changes, Astro Mechanica is developing the world’s first supersonic aircraft that has transpacific capability.
Duality is designed to separate the propulsion units from the turboshaft engine by using electric motors. This enables it to behave like a turbofan at slower speeds, a turbojet at faster speeds just below supersonic, and switch to a ramjet at very high supersonic speeds.
KEY QUOTES:
“Astro Mechanica is developing an adaptive engine concept for strategic military and commercial applications, addressing the challenging yet worthwhile pursuit of supersonic flight. UAV is excited to join Astro Mechanica’s renowned investment partners to support its exceptional management team as they advance their engine technology and progress towards their first aircraft prototype.”
Mukul Hariharan, Managing Partner at United Airlines Ventures
“We are excited to form this relationship with United Airlines Ventures (UAV). This investment reflects strong conviction in Astro Mechanica from an experienced and credible industry leader, and we appreciated UAV’s deep technical grasp of our novel high-speed propulsion technologies. We look forward to working with them as an advisor and a collaborator as we move into flight testing for the next era of passenger travel.”
Ian Brooke, CEO and founder of Astro Mechanica
