🚀 Turbojet, Ramjet, Scramjet – How We Push the Speed Limits in Aviation ✈️ Ever wondered how engineers make aircraft go faster and faster? It all comes down to the engine: Turbojet: Uses compressors and turbines to pressurize incoming air. Combustion happens at subsonic speeds. Works well across many speeds but struggles at extreme velocities. Ramjet: No moving compressors. The aircraft’s speed and shock waves slow air to subsonic speeds for stable combustion. Efficient above Mach 3, but can’t

#OTD 26 May 2010 at Edwards - The X-51A “Waverider” Scramjet Engine Demonstrator vehicle made the longest ever supersonic combustion ramjet-powered hypersonic flight in a the mission performed off the coast of southern California. The approximately 150-second burn by the X-51A’s Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne-built air breathing scramjet engine accelerated the test vehicle to approximately Mach 4.9. The previous longest scramjet burn in a flight test was 12 seconds. U.S. Air Force officials called t