X-51A WaveRider hypersonic missile successfully hits Mach 5.1 in final test

In its fourth and final test, the X-51A WaveRider pulled off three and a half minutes of flight under the power of its supersonic combustion ramjet (Scramjet), the longest such flight ever. The WaveRider, developed by Boeing, DARPA, and the Air Force, is designed to test the feasibility of Scramjet-powered flight. A Scramjet utilized the atmosphere's oxygen, the air compression from its own forward motion, a less fuel than a traditional rocket to propel a craft to hypersonic speeds -- in this ca...