Last May, the X-51A Waverider fired up a scramjet engine and boosted itself to a hypersonic Mach 5. The Air Force was hoping for Mach 6, and, next week, the military will unleash this beast for another flight.
Jet engines that might make it possible for passenger planes to someday travel at 10,000 mph will soon take to the air. Hypersonic scramjets have been in the works for years, but the Boeing X-51A demonstrator will contain the first...