Faster — and quieter — airplanes NASA's hypersonics research is pushing aviation speed limits with ultrafast scramjets (supersonic combustion ramjet engines): In 2004, the agency's unmanned hypersonic X-43A craft briefly reached Mach 9.6 (about 7,000 miles per hour)-- a record for an air - breathing engine. (discovermagazine.com)
To reach hypersonic speeds, current systems will need to be replaced by what engineers call «air - breathing» systems, which could be achieved by scramjets (also called «supersonic - combustion ramjets»). (blog.politics.ox.ac.uk)
Surviving his athletic debacle, he earned a Master of Science degree in aeronautics, and is now vice-president and a member of the board of the Marquardt Corporation, a company that develops and produces such sophisticated hardware as ramjet engines, electronic trainer simulator systems and attitude - control rocket systems. (si.com)