The University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ) has reported the successful launch of a new hypersonic flight experiment developed under the iLAuNCH Trailblazer Fast Track Program, marking what the university describes as a significant milestone for Australia’s growing space research capability.
In a news release, the university said the GAsFEx-2 experiment was launched as part of the German Aerospace Center’s (DLR) MAPHEUS-16 mission.
Led by UniSQ in collaboration with the Technical University of Munich, DLR’s Mobile Rocket Base (MORABA), and Queensland-based aerospace startup HyperFlight Systems, the project aims to demonstrate a cost-effective “ride-along” approach for hypersonic testing.
According to UniSQ, this method allows small aerothermodynamic payloads to share sounding rocket missions, reducing the cost and complexity of hypersonic flight testing by up to 95 per cent compared with traditional standalone missions.
The experiment builds on the first GAsFEx flight in 2024 and incorporates upgraded avionics and enhanced measurement and recovery systems intended to support future commercial and research use.
UniSQ said the launch and recovery represent a major outcome of the iLAuNCH program, which focuses on accelerating industry-research partnerships to advance sovereign space capability.
“This successful flight is a key step toward making hypersonic flight testing more accessible, affordable, and reliable,” said Professor Ingo Jahn of UniSQ’s Hypersonics and Rocketry Group.
“By demonstrating our ability to design, manufacture, and fly ride-along hypersonic payloads, we’re opening new opportunities for industry and academia.”
As part of the collaboration, the university said MORABA provided access to the forward nosecone of the MAPHEUS-16 payload, where the UniSQ-led team integrated an autonomous avionics and measurement system to monitor conditions and record temperatures at hypersonic speeds during ascent.
“In close collaboration with UniSQ, the GAsFEx measurement system was integrated and function tested at MORABA facilities before the launch mission commenced,” said Marcus Horschgen-Eggers of DLR MORABA, adding that the partnership with the Technical University of Munich supports numerical analysis of the in-flight data.
Industry partner HyperFlight Systems supplied avionics hardware and design expertise. “This collaboration provides a platform for us to prove new avionics designs in a relevant hypersonic environment,” said Principal Engineer Robert Pietsch.
UniSQ said the successful flight establishes its capability to support both flight and ground-based hypersonic testing.
The conditions experienced during GAsFEx can be replicated in the university’s hypersonic wind tunnel, TUSQ, contributing to what UniSQ describes as one of the few integrated hypersonic validation pathways worldwide.
