Aerospace engineers are on the cusp of bringing supersonic speed to everyday mankind for a variety of applications.
It is called the X-51a Waverider.
In its latest test flight it will be be carried from Edward's Air Force Base under the wing of a B-52 bomber.
At an altitude of 50,000 feet above the Pacific coast the unmanned X-51a will be dropped.
A solid rocket booster then kicks in, sending the aircraft into hypersonic speed.
It's hoped the experimental aircraft will achieve a speed of 3,600 miles per hour, six times the speed of sound and then maintain that speed for 300 seconds.
That would double the amount of time any aircraft has gone that fast that long.
Aerospace engineers have long argued that sustained hypersonic speed is the next step in aviation,
both for military and civilian purposes.
Engineers at Boeing and Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne first flew the Waverider in May 2010, hitting speeds of 3500 miles per hour for 143 seconds.
The sound barrier was first broken in 1947 at Edwards Air Force Base by legendary pilot Chuck Yeager.
At that time, some aeronautical engineers thought planes would disintegrate at that speed.
Now, 65 years later, researchers are still putting speed, time and altitude to the test.
TXT 24
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