WaveRider hypersonic jet targets Mach 6 (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

Hypersonic jet WaveRider is to undergo another test flight above the Pacific Ocean aiming to reach Mach 6.

At this speed - more than 4,300mph (6,900km/h) - it could travel from London to New York in about an hour.

The project is funded by the Pentagon and Nasa, and is part of plans to develop faster missiles.

During a test in June 2011, WaveRider travelled at Mach 5, but failed to reach the target speed.

It is one of several projects currently under way to create a hypersonic aircraft.
***
more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19257769




So the eventual aim is to send biznessmen and politicos hurtling around the Earth at Mach 4 ? Soooooo much more efficient than e-conferencing at the speed of light. If anyone needs to be sent anywhere at hypersonic velocities, let it be emergency aid workers and/or supplies ...

[denverbill]

1. Frankly, there are a lot of people I'd like to see hurtling around the earth at Mach 6.

Bankers, their toady politicians, lobbyists...

I'm not sure I'd want to put them in a jet though.

[gtar100]

2. Totally agree with your assessment. That would be a world in balance.

[Eugene]

3. X-51 Waverider: Hypersonic jet ambitions fall short

Source: BBC

CODE RED| 15 August 2012

X-51 Waverider: Hypersonic jet ambitions fall short

Sharon Weinberger

The dreams of being able to fly from New York to London in under an hour are once again put on hold, as the latest effort to fly at over five times the speed of sound has ended in failure.

When Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in 1947, it ushered in a new era of high-speed air travel. Now, engineers are trying to make the next leap to craft that can fly more than five times the speed of sound. But it is proving difficult.

A US Air Force test of a missile that is supposed to travel at six times the speed of sound has ended in failure when the vehicle went out of control and crashed in the Pacific Ocean.

It is still unclear what went wrong with the test flight. However, it joins a long list of failed hypersonic flights that shows just how difficult it is to reach these so-called hypersonic speeds.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120815-hypersonic-ambitions-fall-short

[caraher]

4. I wish it were aimed at sending our lords and masters around the world

But my sense is that the research program is more weapons-oriented. After all, it takes a B-2 so darned long to deliver a "message" from the continental US to any point on the planet. We need to get that down to minutes, not hours