Success for the hydrogen powered Hypersonix Test Flight: Wallops Island, Virginia, USA 27th February, 2026

We warmly congratulate Dr Michael Smart, co-founder of Hypersonix, and his team on the successful DART AE test flight — a significant milestone for hypersonic aviation and for hydrogen-powered propulsion.

This achievement represents a remarkable technical breakthrough and a compelling demonstration of hydrogen’s potential as a high-performance fuel.  

Our EPSRC Programme Grant ( Making Hydrogen Work in Zero Carbon Jet Engines) has enabled a collaboration between world leading experts at Imperial, Loughborough and Oxford who are focused on deepening fundamental understanding of hydrogen — from flow modelling and combustion behaviour to fuel integration and materials performance — building the knowledge base required to enable practical, scalable zero-carbon propulsion for subsonic flight.

Demonstrations such as DART AE provide valuable evidence from an adjacent domain, enabling us to compare approaches, test assumptions, and sharpen our assessment of performance, integration challenges, and overall feasibility as hydrogen transitions from research to operational reality.

 We are also delighted that Dr Michael Smart will be visiting Oxford later this year as a senior member or our Independent Advisory Committee. Reflecting on the recent mission, he noted:

“The results from this mission will directly inform the design and development of future operational hypersonic aircraft. We are particularly interested in how the insights gained — across propulsion, materials, and flight performance — can also contribute to progress in subsonic aviation. Translating experience between these domains presents a valuable opportunity to accelerate innovation and strengthen the broader advancement of hydrogen-powered flight.”

Peter Ireland commented:

“We are truly excited to hear this news. The successful DART AE test flight is a remarkable technical achievement and a compelling demonstration of hydrogen’s potential as a zero carbon aviation fuel. It is highly relevant to our work in an adjacent area, where through the Making Hydrogen Work in Zero Carbon Jet Engines grant, funded by EPSRC, we are advancing both fundamental scientific understanding and the technical foundations required for hydrogen-powered flight.