NASA-Backed Hypersonic Jets Poised To Transform Space Travel

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By Eric Williamson, University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science June 28, 2024

This is an artist⁘s depiction of a Hyper-X research vehicle under scramjet power in free-flight following separation from its booster rocket. New research into hypersonic jets may transform space travel by making scramjet engines more reliable and efficient, leading to aircraft-like spacecraft. Credit: NASA

Researchers at the University of Virginia are exploring the potential of hypersonic jets for space travel, using innovations in engine control and sensing techniques. The work, supported by NASA , aims to enhance scramjet performance through adaptive control systems and optical sensors, potentially leading to safer, more efficient space access vehicles that function like aircraft.

What if the future of space travel were to look less like Space-X⁘s rocket-based Starship and more like NASA⁘s ⁘Hyper-X,⁘ the hypersonic jet plane that, 20 years ago this year, flew faster than any other aircraft before or since?

In 2004, NASA⁘s final X-43A unmanned prototype tests were a milestone in the latest era of jet development ⁘ the leap from ramjets to faster, more efficient scramjets. The last test, in November of that year, clocked a world-record speed only a rocket could have achieved previously: Mach 10. The speed equates to 10 times the speed of sound.

NASA culled a lot of useful data from the tests, as did the Air Force six years later in similar tests on the X-51 Waverider, before the prototypes careened into the ocean.

Although hypersonic proof of concept was successful, the technology was far from operational. The challenge was achieving engine control, because the tech was based on decades-old sensor approaches.

NASA⁘s B-52B launch aircraft cruises to a test range over the Pacific Ocean carrying the third and final X-43A vehicle, attached to a Pegasus rocket, on November 16, 2004. Credit: NASA / Carla Thomas