This Mach-5 engine will do what no other can | Challengers
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Published 2022-10-06
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The aircraft startup Hermeus is aiming to do something unprecedented: build an aircraft that can take off from sea level, hit hypersonic speeds, and land to be reused, all while using one jet engine.
To achieve that goal, Hermeus is experimenting with a demonstrator aircraft called Quarterhorse — a small single-engine autonomous vehicle designed to test the company’s one-of-a-kind engine and briefly hit Mach 5 to collect data.
Freethink asked Hermeus whether early experiments with Quarterhorse are likely to succeed. The answer? No. Failure is still the most likely outcome. "And every day that inches a little bit closer to success, a little bit closer and a little bit closer,” said the founder of Hermeus. “And there'll be days when we go the other direction, where we learned something we didn't know, where we fail in a test, and we take a step back. We just keep moving, keep moving a little bit by bit, until we will this into existence.”
Watch on Freethink.com ► www.freethink.com/series/challengers/commercial-hy…
0:00 The Hermeus mission
0:57 Meet Quarterhorse
1:44 Hitting the runway
3:06 Supersonic vs hypersonic speed
3:41 Extreme hypersonic heat
4:54 How the engine works: Chimera
9:37 A testing failure
12:52 Vertical integration tech: The smart way to fail
13:31 Hypersonic passenger flight experience
16:06 The Hermeus moonshot
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Read more of our stories on hypersonic flight:
Coast-to-coast in 30 minutes: solving the physics of hypersonic flight
► www.freethink.com/space/hypersonic-flight
A 20-seat hypersonic plane is being built in Atlanta
► www.freethink.com/technology/hypersonic-plane
World’s fastest passenger jet hits near-supersonic speeds
► www.freethink.com/technology/fastest-private-jet
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Watch our original series:
► Hard Reset: freeth.ink/youtube-hard-reset
► Just Might Work: freeth.ink/youtube-just-might-work
► Challengers: freeth.ink/youtube-challengers
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All Comments (21)
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Do you think hypersonic passenger jets will become reality?
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The only absolute failure is not learning from a mistake.
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As a pringles chip repair man, huge respect to these engineers
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As a 56-year old man who has an engine on each side of his head, huge respect to these engine-ears
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As a jet engine, huge respect to these guys
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Didnt the SR-71 have jet engines that were turbo jets at supersonic and then transitioned to RAM jets? cant really say no other jet has done it before when there has been one
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As a piston return spring adjuster, huge respect to these engineers.
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As a concorde aircraft, huge respect to these engineers!
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As an HPV medical testing volunteer, I have mad respect for these engineers.
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as a guy who moves bricks from one place to another with my hands mad respect for these guys
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As an engineer at Rolls-Royce, huge respect to these engineers!
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As an adjective that modifies nouns, huge respect to these engineers.
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As a former marine airframe and hydraulics mech on the harrier av8b. Huge salute to these engineers. Make it maintenance friendly
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as a guy that pulls parachutes with a boat, huge respect to these engineers.
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As an aerospace plumber, I have huge respect to these pioneers.
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As Steven Seagal's personal attorney, we already patented this technology during the Vietnam war, we will be in touch. But as an novice sugar glider test pilot, mad respect for what you are doing.
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This just makes the SR-71 look even more impressive
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As a janitor, huge respect to these guys!
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As a guy that pushes a rock up a hill only for it to fall down and start over, huge respect to these engineers!
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Worked on Concorde for eighteen years and fully understand the complex challenges involved building hypersonic commercial aircraft. All the best to Hermeus engineers and keep up the good work.
