hypersonic

Image: Dudarev Mikhail (Shutterstock)New research seems to throw cold water on the Wim Hof method, an endurance training technique that intentionally exposes people to frigid temperatures. The study, a review of the scientific literature, did find some evidence that the method could have anti-inflammatory properties, but did not find strong data supporting any other supposed benefits, such as better exercise performance. - Ed Cara Read More Image: Dudarev Mikhail (Shutterstock)New research seems to throw cold water on…

California startup Stratolaunch completed the first powered flight of its Talon-A hypersonic vehicle as it works to develop a reusable version that’s capable of carrying science payloads and flying them at five times the speed of sound.The M3 MacBook Airs are as Good as Ever, and That’s the ProblemThe company’s massive aircraft, named Roc, launched on Saturday from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California while carrying TA-1 in its belly. The plane then released the hypersonic vehicle at an altitude of around 35,000…

U.S. aerospace company Stratolaunch conducted the first powered test flight of a new unmanned craft for hypersonic research on Saturday and called it a success.Hypersonic describes flights at speeds of at least Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound. Chief Executive Officer Zachary Krevor said in a statement that the Talon-A-1 vehicle “reached high supersonic speeds approaching Mach 5 and collected a great amount of data at an incredible value to our customers.” Also read: 5 things about AI you may have missed today:…

California startup Varda Space released raw footage of its capsule reentering the atmosphere. This mission marked two significant achievements: bringing home the first batch of pharmaceutical crystals manufactured in orbit outside the International Space Station (ISS), and making Varda Space, with help from Rocket Labs, the first private company to land a capsule on U.S. soil.Taking out the Trash (in Space)The 27-minute long video was uploaded to the company’s Youtube page, revealing the full journey of the company’s W-1…

Private U.S. company Stratolaunch conducted its second "captive carry" test flight of what it hopes will become a reusable hypersonic vehicle, it said on Saturday, as the Pentagon presses ahead with development of new hypersonic weapons.The Stratolaunch Talon-A was loaded with live propellant and carried aloft by the Spirit of Mojave, a modified Boeing 747-400 with dual fuselages, on a more than four-hour flight going over the Pacific Ocean. Elevate Your Tech Prowess with High-Value Skill CoursesOffering…

Morphology and statistics of the fabricated 9PHEB samples after acid corrosion. (a) SEM image of the samples with a porosity of ~50%. (b) Statistics of the grain sizes. The average grain size is calculated to be 1.07±0.31 μm. Credit: Advanced Materials (2024). DOI: 10.1002/adma.202311870 In a giant leap for future hypersonic flight, Chinese scientists have turned to multi-scale technology to develop a revolutionary new…

California's Stratolaunch has announced the successful completion of its 12th test flight, where its six-engine, 385-ft wingspan Roc carrier aircraft took to the air for a captive carry test of a Talon-A hypersonic vehicle hauling live propellant.Stratolaunch revealed plans for a huge aircraft to launch spacecraft into orbit back in 2011, but the world's largest plane didn't roll out from its hangar until 2017, and then on to its maiden flight a couple of years later.In 2020, the original plan was amended and a reusable…

How do you protect hypersonic vehicles from the high temperatures of over 2,200 °C (4,000 °F) encountered when flying in excess of Mach 5? According to the RTX Technology Research Center, the answer is to make them sweat.Hypersonic flight holds the promise of revolutionizing aeronautics to a degree not seen since the breaking of the sound barrier in 1947. However, it turns out that going from supersonic to hypersonic is a lot more challenging than going from subsonic to supersonic.One of the biggest challenges is the…

Better known for building and flying lightweight small and medium orbital launchers, Rocket Lab is branching out. The company has announced the successful full launch of its Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron (HASTE) launch vehicle, which is designed to boost hypersonic vehicles well past Mach 5.Lifting off at 9:24 pm on June 17, 2023, the launch of the HASTE was not only the first flight of the new rocket that is derived from Rocket Lab's Electron booster, it is also the company's first launch from Rocket…

California startup Varda has celebrated the deployment of its first satellite, a test run of a fascinating space-based pharmaceuticals factory that moonlights as a hypersonic test rig during its Mach 25 re-entry to keep costs down.Why manufacture in space? Well, when you're operating in zero gravity – or at least, in the microgravity environment of orbit – you're altering a very significant physical variable that's pretty much a constant for any Earth-based lab.With gravity out of the equation, things like convection…