NASA's X-43A scramjet aircraft hit Mach 9.64 at 110,000 feet in November 2004—and that record for an air-breathing aircraft still stands more than two decades later. Despite all the talk about America ...

Going really fast has always been one of the major goals of air-breathing aircraft ("air-breathing" meaning that it's not powered by a rocket, and relies on air for fuel combustion) development since ...

The X-51A Waverider hypersonic scramjet project is set for its second test flight today, and the U.S. Air Force hopes it will demonstrate technology that can eventually be used for more efficient ...

Just a couple of decades ago, aviation had some rules. If you wanted to fly fast within the atmosphere, you used a jet engine. The champion here was the SR-71 Blackbird, designed by Lockheed Martin, ...

On October 3, 1967, Major William “Pete” Knight flew the rocket-powered X-15A-2 to Mach 6.7, reaching 4,520mph. Extreme ...

Today scramjet propulsion is the subject of continued study, as it appears to be one of the most promising methods of powering hypersonic weapons and aircraft. So, you may be surprised to learn that ...

OXNARD, Calif., May 3 (UPI) -- The final flight of the X-51A Waverider test program saw the scramjet aircraft reach Mach 5.1 over the Pacific Ocean, the U.S. Air Force said Friday. The unmanned ...

An 18-hour commercial flight is enough to make anyone squirm. But don’t expect near-term aerospace tech to save you from long hours in that dreaded middle seat. That’s because the scramjet engine ...

A drop of kerosene sprayed into the combustion chamber of a scramjet engine has a lot of work to do in 1/1,000th of a second. Specifically, each hydrocarbon molecule must be mixed with compressed air, ...