This Mach-5 engine will do what no other can | Challengers

Hermeus is building the world’s fastest commercial aircraft. And we got to tour their hypersonic flight lab. Subscribe to Freethink on YouTube ► Watch the Challengers playlist ► 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,” s