Stratolaunch completes successful first test of Talon vehicle.
Hypersonic flight is a hot area of aerospace research right now, especially for military applications. Flight speeds of Mach 5 or above greatly lower the vulnerability of airframes to defensive countermeasures such as surface-to-air missiles. Hypersonic flight in commercial aviation has been a dream for decades, but in both military and civilian applications, a great deal of research is still necessary to build practical, reasonable systems. Military research organizations and NASA have been the primary drivers of hypersonic flight research, but the private sector is now entering the field.
* * *
Access all episodes of This Week in Engineering on engineering.com TV along with all of our other series.