Latest news with #hypersonic
BBC News
a day ago
- Business
- BBC News
What happens when a high-tech project fails?
"It was going great until it fell apart." Richard Varvill recalls the emotional shock that hits home when a high-tech venture goes off the former chief technology officer speaks ruefully about his long career trying to bring a revolutionary aerospace engine to fruition at UK firm Reaction origins of Reaction Engines go back to the Hotol project in the 1980s. This was a futuristic space plane that caught the public imagination with the prospect of a British aircraft flying beyond the secret sauce of Hotol was heat exchanger technology, an attempt to cool the super-heated 1,000C air that enters an engine at hypersonic cooling this will melt aluminium, and is, Mr Varvill says, "literally too hot to handle".Fast forward three decades to October 2024 and Reaction Engines was bringing the heat exchanger to life at sites in the UK and Ministry of Defence funding took the company into hypersonic research with Rolls-Royce for an unmanned aircraft. But that was not enough to keep the business declines to go into details about Reaction's collapse, but Mr Varvill is more specific."Rolls-Royce said it had other priorities and the UK military has very little money." Aviation is a business with a very long gestation time for a product. It can take 20 years to develop an aircraft. This unforgiving journey is known as crossing the Valley of Varvill knew the business had to raise more funds towards the end of 2024 but big investors were reluctant to jump on board."The game was being played right to the very end, but to cross the Valley of Death in aerospace is very hard."What was the atmosphere like in those last days as the administrators moved in?"It was pretty grim, we were all called into the lecture theatre and the managing director gave a speech about how the board 'had tried everything'. Then came the unpleasant experience of handing over passes and getting personal items. It was definitely a bad day at the office."This bad day was too much for some. "A few people were in tears. A lot of them were shocked and upset because they'd hoped we could pull it off right up to the end."It was galling for Mr Varvill "because we were turning it around with an improved engine. Just as we were getting close to succeeding we failed. That's a uniquely British characteristic." Did they follow the traditional path after a mass lay-off and head to the nearest pub? "We had a very large party at my house. Otherwise it would have been pretty awful to have put all that effort into the company and not mark it in some way."His former colleague Kathryn Evans headed up the space effort, the work around hypersonic flight for the Ministry of Defence and opportunities to apply the technology in any other commercial did she know the game was up? "It's tricky to say when I knew it was going wrong, I was very hopeful to the end. While there was a lot of uncertainty there was a strong pipeline of opportunities."She remembers the moment the axe fell and she joined 200 colleagues in the HQ's auditorium."It was the 31st of October, a Thursday, I knew it was bad news but when you're made redundant with immediate effect there's no time to think about it. We'd all been fighting right to the end so then my adrenalin crashed."And those final hours were recorded. One of her colleagues brought in a Polaroid camera. Portrait photos were taken and stuck on a board with message expressing what Reaction Engines meant to did Ms Evans write? "I will very much miss working with brilliant minds in a kind, supportive culture."Since then she's been reflecting "on an unfinished mission and the technology's potential".But her personal pride remains strong. "It was British engineering at its best and it's important for people to hold their heads up high." Her boss Adam Dissel, president of Reaction Engines, ran the US arm of the business. He laments the unsuccessful struggle to wrest more funds from big names in aerospace."The technology consistently worked and was fairly mature. But some of our strategic investors weren't excited enough to put more money in and that put others off."The main investors were Boeing, BAE Systems and Roll-Royce. He feels they could have done more to give the wider investment community confidence in Reaction would have avoided a lot of pain. "My team had put heart and soul into the company and we had a good cry. "Did they really shed tears? "Absolutely, I had my tears at our final meeting where we joined hands and stood up. I said 'We still did great, take a bow."What lessons can we draw for other high-tech ventures? "You definitely have no choice but to be optimistic," says Mr Dissel. The grim procedure of winding down the business took over as passwords and laptops were collected while servers were backed up in case "some future incarnation of the business can be preserved".The company had been going in various guises for 35 years. "We didn't want it to go to rust. I expect the administrator will look for a buyer for the intellectual property assets," Mr Dissel former employees also hold out for a phoenix rising from the ashes. But the Valley of Death looms large."Reaction Engines was playing at the very edge of what was possible. We were working for the fastest engines and highest temperatures. We bit off the hard job," says Mr all this Mr Varvill's own epitaph for the business overshadows technological milestones. "We failed because we ran out of money."
The Sun
2 days ago
- Business
- The Sun
Watch moment hypersonic jet ‘Quarterhorse' makes first flight in big step towards trips from London to NYC in 90 mins
THIS is the incredible moment hypersonic jet "Quarterhorse" makes its first flight in a big step towards trips from London to New York taking just 90 minutes. The amazing uncrewed Quarterhorse MK 1 took flight over Edwards Air Force Base in California. 6 6 The MK 1 is roughly the size of an F-16 military Fighting Falcon and powered by a General Electric J85 engine. With its low aspect ratio wings, high wing loading, low thrust-to-weight ratio, the jet was captured nailing its maiden flight with smooth takeoff and landing. Unbelievable footage shows the tin can-like structure being driven onto the gargantuan runway - ready for the test takeoff. It's soon shown darting down the runway by itself at incredible speed. The MK 1 has a very pointy nose which begins to lift into the air as the aircraft takes flight. It then has a very smooth landing back onto the site. Hermeus' CEO and co-founder AJ Piplica said: "MK 1 has redefined the pace of developing and flying new aircraft. "I'm incredibly proud of what our team has accomplished. We've proven the viability of our iterative development approach. But this is just the start." Hermeus was built in just 204 days, with the Quarterhorse MK 2 already in the works for a late 2025 flight. Hermeus' president and co-founder Skyler Shuford said: "The real-world flight data from MK 1 provides significant technical value that we're rolling into our next aircraft." At Edwards Air Force Bases, the MK 1's propulsion, fuel system, hydraulics, and bespoke Flight Deck remote piloting setup were made to be perfect, with aspirations for future journeys with passengers. General Scott Cain, Air Force Test Center commander, said: "Industry partnerships continue to have an important role in the development and test of disruptive and innovative capabilities for our warfighters." The MK 1 looks make vast improvements to the MK 2 which will be five times faster than the speed of sound - expected to reach Mach 2.5, or 1918mph. Such speed would see the aircraft fly from London to New York City in less than two hours. Hermeus has selected Cecil Airport in Jacksonville, Florida as its new engine test facility, taking it one step closer to launching hypersonic commercial flights. The High Enthalpy Air-Breathing Test Facility broke ground last month and is set to be the largest and most advanced Hermeus test site. It is hoped that once production on The Quarterhorse has started, the jet will be "used as a platform for commercial testing and development efforts," Hermeus said. The HEAT facility will support flight modelling by continually providing the conditions needed for hyper-supersonic and low-hypersonic flight. A series of engines and propulsion systems will undergo tests in Jacksonville including the Pratt & Whitney F100 engine and Hermeus' proprietary hypersonic Chimera engine. It will be a key hub for hypersonic technology for both the Department of Defense and commercial parties. The Jacksonville facility is also set to serve as the base for the company's commercial high-Mach flight test services starting in 2026. 6 6
Forbes
5 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
For Leaders Who Thought It Would Be Easier—The Other Press Release…
We do this not because it is easy, but because we thought it would be easy We don't do this because it's easy. We do this because we thought it would be easy. That line came to me in a meme from a colleague at Venus during one of the hardest stretches of my time on the leadership team at Venus Aerospace, a company developing reusable hypersonic aircraft designed to fly you across the Pacific in under two hours. I now serve as an advisor to the company, but back then I was deep in the day-to-day: capital uncertainty, shifting priorities, and scenario planning for what felt like the 14th time. No one signs up for a moonshot to argue over budget spreadsheets. They join to build. But that week, belief felt like the scarcest resource of all. I remembered that meme again last week, when Venus completed a historic flight test of its Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE), becoming the first U.S. company—and perhaps the first in the world—to prove this next-gen propulsion system in the air. It made international headlines. A huge technical win. Rightfully celebrated. But for those of us who've been inside the effort, it didn't feel like a singular moment of triumph. It felt like a quiet exhale shared between people who had endured who had endured the technical gauntlet—and the emotional one—and held on when it would've been easier not to. The technology is brutally hard. But trying to build something unprecedented—without breaking the people building it—adds a second, quieter layer of difficulty. Everyone knows this kind of work is difficult. But we still misunderstand where the difficulty lies. We assume the challenge is technical complexity. But in reality, it's the emotional and relational toll of doing something under pressure, without precedent, and with limited room for error. That misunderstanding doesn't just distort expectations. It makes success more rare—because it causes people to give up too soon. Here's what I've learned about what actually makes hard things hard. At a startup doing something new, nothing is established. Not just the product—the roles, the systems, the culture—it's all being built in real time. That ambiguity can fuel creativity, but it can also drain morale. Decisions that would be defaults in a mature company become full-blown debates. Passionate people burn out solving problems they weren't hired for. Curt Steinhorst as a Venus Executive Leader A colleague on the executive team once said: 'The definition of great work is solving difficult problems with non-difficult people.' But when the problem is hard enough, even the best people become difficult—not because they're wrong, but because it's costing them. That's when story becomes your most important leadership tool. When belief starts to fray, the story you tell—about what you're doing and why—either sustains you or breaks you. It doesn't mean ignoring reality. But it does mean guarding attention. Because attention is social. And if 'this is broken' becomes the dominant narrative, it doesn't just describe the problem—it magnifies it. Leadership in those moments means choosing what not to amplify. In a company growing fast and flying blind, every stage demands new skills. And usually, no one is fully ready—including the leaders. Some thrive in early chaos but stall when structure is needed. Others bring polish but struggle without resources. If you lead too far ahead, you build what you can't afford. If you lead from behind, you stall progress. You have to do two things at once: This is especially true for founders. Yes, they enter rooms few ever access. But they also carry the weight. People expect them to believe harder, fix faster, and stay composed—while learning on the fly. Sometimes that means firing friends. Sometimes it means ignoring well-meaning advice. Sometimes it just means showing up—again—when you're not sure you're enough. One of Venus' most strategic breakthroughs wasn't technical—it was logistical. The industry assumes engine testing has to happen in remote areas. But we asked: What if we could test on-site? That single question—born of necessity—let us test faster, cheaper, and more frequently than anyone else. It wasn't genius. It was constraint reimagined. When pressure is unrelenting, what holds people together isn't just shared goals. It's shared humanity. Late nights around the founders' dinner table—debating fantasy novels, defending the brilliance of Highlander—became rituals that sustained us. Jokes from those nights found their way into slide decks. We awarded prizes for the best dad jokes. When one teammate suffered a personal loss, the team rallied with tears and resolve. Often, it wasn't strategy that kept someone from walking away. It was being talked off the ledge by a friend who didn't even like you at first—but who now understood exactly what you were carrying. You play every card you've got. And you just hope you don't run out too soon. Funny enough, this isn't just a story about rocket engines (what an interesting sentence to write, by the way). It's about the human engine behind every breakthrough—and what it really takes to lead through the fog. So yes, we're proud of the technical win. But I'm just as proud of what didn't make the press release: Because the truth is: we didn't really think it would be easy. We just hoped it would be worth it. Turns out, it is. When the world moves faster than most teams can process, the leaders who will matter most aren't just the ones who can think clearly. They're the ones who can stay human—when it would be easier not to.
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Science
- Daily Mail
Supersonic jet set to release in 2030 will take passengers from New York to London in less than 60 minutes
Supersonic travel is moving closer to reality, after a successful test by a Texas startup that could one day fly passengers from New York to Paris in just 55 minutes. Venus Aerospace completed the world's first atmospheric test of a rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE), a breakthrough propulsion system that uses spinning explosions instead of steady combustion to generate thrust. The test took place on Wednesday, May 14, at Spaceport America in New Mexico, where a small rocket equipped with the new engine lifted off at 7:37am local time. Venus CEO Sassie Duggleby said: 'This is the moment we've been working toward for five years.' The company plans to use the engine for its upcoming hypersonic jet, Stargazer, which is expected to reach Mach 4 (3,069 mph), four times the speed of sound. If approved for commercial travel, the $33 million jet could complete the 3,625-mile journey between New York and Paris in under an hour, nearly three times faster than the Concorde, which flew at 1,354 mph. The current flight takes about eight hours. Venus Aerospace aims to launch the aircraft in the early 2030s, with plans to carry up to 12 passengers per flight. Compared to traditional rocket engines, RDREs offer improved efficiency and compactness, making them particularly suited for advanced aerospace applications. 'We've proven that this technology works—not just in simulations or the lab, but in the air,' Duggleby said. 'With this milestone, we're one step closer to making high-speed flight accessible, affordable, and sustainable.' Theorized since the 1980s, a high-thrust RDRE capable of practical application has never been flown in a real-world test. Andrew Duggleby, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, said: 'Rotating detonation has been a long-sought gain in performance. 'Venus' RDRE solved the last but critical steps to harness the theoretical benefits of pressure gain combustion. We've built an engine that not only runs, but runs reliably and efficiently—and that's what makes it scalable. 'This is the foundation we need that, combined with a ramjet, completes the system from take-off to sustained hypersonic flight.' Venus's RDRE is also engineered to work with the company's exclusive VDR2 air-breathing detonation ramjet, an advanced propulsion system. If approved for commercial travel, the $33 million jet could complete the 3,625-mile journey between New York and Paris in under an hour, nearly three times faster than the Concorde, which flew at 1,354 mph It uses rotating detonation technology to achieve extremely high speeds, potentially Mach 5, which is five times the speed of sound or more. It pulls in air from the atmosphere instead of carrying oxygen onboard like a rocket does. Instead of slow burning, it relies on supersonic shock waves from detonations to move air and fuel through the engine rapidly. 'This pairing enables aircraft to take off from a runway and transition to speeds exceeding Mach 6, maintaining hypersonic cruise without the need for rocket boosters,' Venus shared in a statement. 'Venus is planning full-scale propulsion testing and vehicle integration of this system, moving toward their ultimate goal: the Stargazer M4, a Mach 4 reusable passenger aircraft.' If Stargazer comes to fruition, it will be the first passenger-carrying commercial airplane to go faster than the speed of sound since Concorde. Retired more than 20 years ago, Concorde flew at a maximum altitude of 60,000 feet. According to Venus Aerospace, its upcoming plane will not only be faster but will fly higher – up to 110,000 feet. Just like Concorde passengers almost a quarter of a century ago, Stargazer passengers will be high enough to see the curvature of Earth. This is where the horizon is a slight curve rather than a straight line, normally seen from 50,000 feet.
Daily Mail
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
US launches nuclear missile in 'doomsday test' to showcase readiness amid growing WW3 fears
The US Air Force launched a hypersonic missile early Wednesday in what officials described as a 'doomsday test.' The Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) was launched at 12:01am PT from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The test coincided with President Donald Trump unveiling plans for a proposed $175 billion 'Golden Dome' defense system. According to Trump, the system is intended to protect the US from the world's most powerful weapons, drawing sharp criticism from China and Russia, who warn it could ignite a global arms race. The Air Force described Wednesday's launch as 'part of routine and periodic activities designed to demonstrate that the US nuclear deterrent remains safe, secure, reliable, and effective in deterring 21st-century threats and reassuring our allies.' The unarmed missile traveled 15,000 miles per hour, completing a 4,200-mile journey in approximately 22 minutes before reaching its target near Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. Data collected during the flight will be used to assess the missile system's performance and reliability. Col. Dustin Harmon, commander of the test, said, 'Minuteman III remains the bedrock of our nation's strategic deterrent, and the unwavering dedication of the Airmen who ensure its readiness is a testament to its inherent lethality. 'Their expertise and commitment are vital to maintaining this credible force for peace. As we look to the future, these same Airmen are paving the way for the Sentinel ICBM, ensuring a seamless transition to this next-generation capability and the continued security of our nation.' The unarmed missile traveled 15,000 miles per hour, completing a 4,200-mile journey in approximately 22 minutes before reaching its target near Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean The hypersonic weapon was designed to hit any target worldwide in just 30 minutes after launch. Moscow sits about 6,000 miles from California, while Beijing is about 6,3000 miles away - two nations deemed as threats to the US. America's ICBM is capable of carrying three Mk 12A nuclear warheads, each packing up to 350,000 tons of TNT, but today's test launched an unarmed missile. The Air Force randomly chose a missile from F.E. Warren Air Force base in Wyoming and transported more it than 1,300 miles to California where it was reassembled. 'With more than 300 similar tests conducted in the past, this test is part of the Nation's ongoing commitment to maintaining a credible deterrent and is not a response to current world events,' officials said. The ICBM is one of two missiles currently used by America. The other is submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) that are deployed from underwater submarines. The weapon is a vital component of the US military's nuclear forces, capable of delivering a nuclear payload to targets around the world, but is scheduled to be phased out by 2029 and replaced with the LGM-35A Sentinel ICBM. The US Air Force said that 'the Sentinel weapon system is the most cost-effective option for maintaining a safe, secure, and effective land-based leg of the nuclear triad and would extend its capabilities through 2075.' The LG-35A Sentinel will replace the Minuteman III ICBM with an initial capability of 2029. Until full capability is achieved in the mid-2030s, the Air Force is committed to ensuring Minuteman III remains a viable deterrent. While Trump's 'Golden Dome' is set to be operational by the end of his term in 2029. Such a defence programme is 'long overdue' and 'absolutely necessary' amid growing threats from China, North Korea and Russia, experts have said in response to Tuesday's announcement. The weapon traveled more than 4,000 miles at speeds over 15,000 miles per hour to a test range on the Marshall Islands in the central Pacific Ocean Moscow and Beijing have both put offensive weapons in space, such as satellites with abilities to disable critical US satellites, which can make America vulnerable to attack. Beijing has warned that the plan to put US weapons into the earth's orbit for the first time 'heightens the risk of space becoming a battlefield, fuels an arms race, and undermines international security.' Meanwhile Moscow has called for Washington to make contact regarding the programme. Trump said on Tuesday that he had not yet spoken to Vladimir Putin regarding the programme, but would do so 'at the right time '. Following talks between the allies earlier this month, Beijing and Moscow released a joint statement condemning Washington's plans as being 'deeply destabilising' and turning space into 'an arena for armed confrontation.' Trump promised that the completed system will protect the US from 'cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, hypersonic missiles, drones, whether they're conventional or nuclear.'
