Scramjets and Gratitude

Japan's New Hypersonic Engine Could Make 2-Hour Flights To The US A Reality ) A team of engineers from Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and several Japanese universities has completed a successful ground combustion trial of a ramjet engine designed for a Mach-5 hypersonic aircraft. The test simulated a flight at five times the speed of sound. It was focused on validating the aircraft's heat-shielding, control surfaces, and engine performance under extreme conditions. The project's goal is commercial hypersonic passenger service by the 2040s. It won't come online until the 2040's, so I will, alas, miss this. And it's been a life-long preoccupation. But I lived through rise of the Internet — which everyone, at the time, thought sucked because there was spam, and dial-up was slow — which I still deeply value, though the rest of the world never made their apology as loud as their disrespect. ...and the revolution of digital media — which everyone, at the time, thought sucked…