waveriderWe humans would love to get from one point to another quickly – although there are times in life when being quick would also mean having to fork out a premium while you are at it. If you would like to take a quick day trip to New York from the UK, it might sound bonkers, but not quite with the X-51 Waverider. What happens to be an 8 hour flight time might end up as reality, especially after the US Air Force has come up with the idea of constructing a hypersonic air vehicle that will be based on the X-51 Waverider. Do bear in mind that the X-51 Waverider managed to be tested out before, where it managed to hit the Mach 5.1 (3,882 mph) mark at 60,000 ft over the Pacific – not yesterday or last month, but a couple of years back.

According to chief scientist Mica Endsley, the team has been working with the Pentagon’s research arm, DARPA, and they hope to deliver the plane into this fabric of reality by the time 2023 rolls around. She mentioned, “X-51 was really a proof of concept test. It showed that you could get a scram jet engine, launch it off an aircraft and it could go hypersonic. It was able to go more than Mach 5 until it ran out of fuel. It was a very successful test of an airborne hypersonic weapons system.”

This technology is seen to enhance missile systems testing by the time 2020 rolls around. Scary thought for the world, no?

Filed in Transportation.. Source: metro

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