How Fast Is Mach 10

How Fast Is Mach 10

How Fast Is Mach 10

In today’s world, we’re surrounded by technology. We rely on computers, cell phones, and GPS systems to get us where we need to go. But what if these devices were not only used for navigation? What if they could also help us travel faster? That’s exactly what the Darkstar Hypersonic Vehicle does. With a top speed of Mach 10, the Darkstar Hypersonics vehicle allows people to travel at incredible rates of speed.

Ever wonder just how fast Mach 10 is?

To find out, I spoke to Aaron Cassebeer who is the Senior Engineering Manager at Stratolaunch Systems. He told me about his company’s new rocket plane project called Talon-A. It can travel at speeds of up to Mach 6 (6x the velocity of the earth) and carry payloads weighing up to 100 tons into orbit. That means it could launch satellites into space.

Transcript-

Perry Roth-Johnson (01:11):

Aaron Cassebeer is the senior director of engineering for Stratolaunch Systems. He joined the company in 2013 and he oversees the design and development of the aircraft.

Aaron Cassebeer (01:16):

In my life I’ve been blessed with some amazing opportunities. And one of those opportunities came about three weeks ago where I got to go to Paris and meet with the President of France.”

Cassebeer is the CEO of Casper Sleep. He joined us live from Paris.

CASSEBEER: “I’m very excited to be here today because we’re launching our newest product called Casper Cloud.”

The Casper Cloud is a mattress designed to provide comfort and support during sleep. Cassebeer says it’s inspired by his own experience sleeping on the ground while traveling abroad.

CASSEBERRY: “You know, you just want to make sure that whatever you’re sleeping on is safe and comfortable and supportive. So what we did is we took the same principles that apply to mattresses and applied them to pillows and blankets and sheets.”

He adds that the Casper Cloud is unique because it doesn’t use foam. Instead, he says it uses air chambers that are filled with a special gel.

Perry Roth-Johnson (01:19):

– Hypersonic flight is moving faster than sound.

– And that speed is typically above five times the speed of sound.

– Sound moves at about 760 miles per hour, so that’s about 2,500 kilometers per hour.

– And that’s why the term “hypersonic” is used because, well, it’s super fast.

– Now, there are different types of hypersonics, including reentry vehicles, airbreathing vehicles, scramjets and ramjets.

– They’re all pretty similar in principle, except for the fuel source.

– Reentry vehicles use nuclear power, air breathing vehicles use combustion engines, scramjets use liquid hydrogen and ramjets use oxygen and hydrogen.

Aaron Cassebeer (02:08):

So we’re talking about hypersonic vehicles here. What are some of the applications?”

Kurt Eberly: “Well, one of the most obvious ones is missiles.”

Cassebeer: “Right. Right.”

Eberly: “And what I mean by that is that there are basically three different ways that people have been thinking about how to use hypersonic technology. One way is to make missiles faster. Another way is to make aircraft faster. And another way is to make spacecraft faster. And each of those has its advantages and disadvantages. But the advantage of making missiles faster is that you don’t have to worry about reentry. You just fire it out into space and it goes where it wants to go.”

Cassebeer:”Right. Right.”

“The disadvantage of making missiles faster is obviously that you’ve got a lot less range because you’re traveling faster. But the advantage of doing something like that is that you can carry much heavier payloads. Because you don’t have to slow down to land. And so if you’re launching a missile today, you can launch a nuclear warhead and still be able to hit anywhere within the Earth’s atmosphere. Whereas if you want to do something similar with an airplane, you’d have to fly slower and therefore be able to carry smaller weapons.”

Cassebeer :”Yeah. Yeah.”

Eberly:”And the disadvantage of that is that you lose a lot of the stealth capability that you might have had. So if you’re trying to sneak up on somebody, you’re probably better off with a slower vehicle. But if you’re trying to deliver a weapon quickly, you could definitely benefit from being able to travel at high speeds.”

Perry Roth-Johnson (02:33):

I’m flying over the Pacific Ocean at about 7,500 feet, and I’m looking down, and I see something that looks like a giant ball of fire.”

That’s what happened earlier this week when Perry Roth-Johnson, a pilot based out of San Francisco, spotted a sight he’d never seen before. “I’ve been flying around the world since ’95,” he told Business Insider. “And I’ve never seen anything remotely like this.”

The object looked like a huge fireball — except it wasn’t moving. It just sat there, floating in the sky above the ocean. “I thought it might be a meteorite,” Roth-Johnson said. But he soon realized that it was much bigger than that. He says it was roughly 10 times larger than the moon. “At first, I thought it was some sort of satellite launch or maybe a missile test,” he added.

But it wasn’t either of those things. In fact, it wasn’t even close to being natural. As he flew closer, he could see that it had a strange shape. “It looked like it had a hole in the middle where you could look inside,” he said. “From what I saw, it didn’t seem to have any windows.”

Roth-Johnson contacted his airline, Alaska Airlines, to ask if anyone else had reported seeing the same thing. “They couldn’t find anybody,” he said. “So we filed a report with NORAD.”

NORAD stands for North American Aerospace Defense Command. It’s the US government agency

Aaron Cassebeer (responsible for defending America against air attacks. They’re usually involved with tracking space debris, weather balloons, and satellites, among other things. “We file reports every day,” Roth-Johnson said, adding that his flight hadn’t 02:39):

triggered any alerts.

He continued to fly over the mysterious object for another 30 minutes, taking pictures and video. “It was definitely real,” he said. “There was no question about it.”

When he landed, he uploaded the photos and videos onto Facebook. Within hours, people began sharing the images online. “People are saying it’s a UFO,” Roth-Johnson said.”Some people think it’s a balloon or a plane crash.” Others say it’s a Chinese spy ship. “All kinds of crazy stuff,” he said. “It’s gotten really interesting.”

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