Hypersonic Flight

Vehicles capable of traveling Mach 5 and above. Hypersonic flight are becoming popular to scientists in the US, France, German, Japan and Russia. Hypersonic flight can include anything from hypersonic planes to weapons that travel at hypersonic speeds.       Since the mid-1940's hypersonic air breathing systems have

been of keen interest and thousands of studies have taken place. How is flying at hypersonic speeds achieved? NASA's has established a flight program called Hyper-X, a multi-year hypersonic ground and flight test program.
      The twelve foot long Hyper-X will be traveling at Mach 10, ten times the speed of sound. The Dryden B-52 will launch the Hyper-X traveling at just over two miles a second, between 19,000 and 43,000 feet. Upon each flight the boosters will propel the Hyper-X to its desired speed. After the booster separation the scramjet engine will complete its seven-plus second thrust test, then onto six minutes of hypersonic glide time!!