14 DAY TRIAL // The US military is not giving up on its hypersonic dream. It's been trying to build a plane that can fly at several times the speed of sound (for more than a few seconds) for many, many years now and, as far as we've been told, hasn't succeeded yet.
But it's not stopping. A recent test flight didn't go quite as planned causing the X-51A Waverider to crash sooner than planned.
It didn't get to use its scramjet engine, the sole purpose of the entire flight, but it did reach Mach 4.8 before problems with a control fin caused it to abort and crash land in the Pacific Ocean.
Plans for a fourth test flight have now been announced, a new X-51A will be flying next spring or next summer with the goal of reaching Mach 6 under its own power and propelled by the scramjet, or supersonic combustion ramjet, engine.