The X-43 began its existence as a concept in a NASA wind tunnel in 1996. It was considered a risky investment because no scramjet-powered plane had ever been built—let alone flown in the atmosphere.

To date, NASA has achieved speeds of Mach 9.6 using a scramjet (the X-43A unmanned hypersonic aircraft). Why? Because hypersonic weapons will travel at about Mach 5, which means they will have ...

Scramjet technology could eliminate the need ... But last March, its second flight was successful, reaching almost Mach 7. However, with NASA now dedicating the bulk of its resources to returning ...

NASA will roll out the X-43A ... from the rocket and flies under its own power using a hydrogen-powered "scramjet" engine, the first such test of the technology. The actual powered-flight is ...

With handful of start-ups on board from Hermeus to Venus Aerospace, hypersonic commercial flights could soon become a reality ...