ZOOM: X-51A Screams to Hypersonic Success. Michael Belfiore reports.

But here’s what Gary Hudson emailed to me when I first mentioned this flight:

Hypersonics are the propulsion systems of the future…and always will be.

I say: quit trying to bore holes in the atmosphere – with the massive thermal and drag issues attendant – and simply go to orbital velocity like any self-respecting rocket engineer knows. Rocket-powered antipodal boost-glide is faster and the technology far easier to master.

I’ll take whatever lets me make a weekend trip to Sydney, but there’s also a scramjet application for hypersonic cruise missiles.