The new materials and inventions can mean a breakthrough in hypersonic technology.

The SR-71 and SR-72 "DarkStar" (Above)  are the fastest atmospheric aircraft. The SR-71 is the fastest known manned aircraft. with a speed of Mach 3.2 at 26,000 meters. The SR-72 can reach Mach 6 at high altitudes. The fastest air-breathing aircraft was X-43A, which reached a speed of Mach 12. But the X-43A was an air-launched single-use experimental aircraft. The retired SR-71 and SR-72 are systems that can be used many times. The SR-71 and SR-72 operate from normal runways. 

However, low-level high-speed flight faces challenges, primarily the thermal effects that can damage the aircraft's body.  

Whirls around the aircraft, known as turbulence, are one of the factors that limit hypersonic technology. The ability to remove whirls around the body could make a revolution in hypersonic technology. When an aircraft flies in the atmosphere, air flows over its body. If there is a small bulge on the body, that bulge creates a whirl that causes oscillation in the hypersonic body. The whirl acts like a roll.  One of the solutions. That can decrease the turbulence. It is making those bodies as smooth as possible. 

"Artist's concept of X-43A with scramjet attached to the underside." (Wikipedia, NASA X-43)

One solution could be a system that pushes airflow away from the body. If the aircraft can make the air layer against the body and wings as thin as possible, that removes turbulence. In some models. Things like superconducting magnets. Those that are on both sides of the aircraft can be used to push air away from the aircraft's body. The idea is that the system uses the Meissner effect. To create a thin air bubble around the aircraft. The superconducting magnets. Or the Meissner system can be used to create an acoustic bubble around the craft. The system benefits from the superconducting levitation effect. For pushing air away from the body. 

This thing makes. It is possible to create thin air conditions around the aircraft. The new materials that can transport heat out of the aircraft body. It can also make it possible to create systems that can travel with incredible speed. New materials like magic-angle graphene can pull thermal energy out from an aircraft’s body. 

“Diagram of a typical gas turbine jet engine” (Wikipedia, Turbojet)

“Diagram of a valved pulsejet. 

1 - Air enters through the valve and is mixed with fuel. 

2 - The mixture is ignited, expands, closes the valve, and exits through the tailpipe, creating thrust. 

3 - Low pressure in the engine opens the valve and draws in air.” (Wikipedia, Pulsejet) 

“Simple ramjet operation, with Mach numbers of flow shown”(Wikipedia, Ramjet)

“Diagram of principle of operation of a scramjet engine.” (Wikipedia, Scramjet)

The pulse-ramjets, or pulse scramjets, can be one of the answers to the hypersonic engine problems. The problem is that the blower wings of the turbojet don’t withstand the speed of Mach 6. In pulse-ramjets or scramjets, the combustion chamber has the shape of a ramjet and a scramjet engine. 

If the aircraft could make a molecular. Or an acoustic bubble around an aircraft. That system can make it possible to create low-flying ultra-fast aircraft solutions. The problem with hypersonic technology is the ramjet, or scramjet engine structure. Those systems don’t have blowers. So, the aircraft must travel at the speed of Mach 1 to ignite the ramjet engine. There is a possibility. To use regular turbojets to reach that speed. And then the system starts to drive fuel into ramjets. Then the iris closes the turbojet’s air intake. The answer can be the pulsejet engine. Or the flap system, which is used in the WWII V-1 “flying bomb”  missile engine. The pulsejet engine. That is shaped. The ramjet engine can be the answer. To the hypersonic system start problems. 

The flap ramjet.  Or pulse-ramjet, which uses a fuel and air mixture. Compressors drive in the combustion chamber. Then the system ignites that mixture. When speed is high enough, the compressor that drives oxygen into the combustion chamber shuts down. The flap system opens. The engine allows the air flow to travel to the ramjet engine. Another version. Is to use. The shock heating method could be used to ignite the ramjet. The system must only deny. The air flow to the front of the engine.

There is a possibility of using things like phonons to increase the pressure in the engines. The system can use coherent sound waves to press a fuel-air mixture against the wall of the combustion chamber. If the system can make a coherent sound wave. That can press a fuel-air mixture against the wall of the combustion chamber. If that pressure is high enough, that system can ignite a ramjet engine in a static position. 

https://defensefeeds.com/military-tech/air-force/reconnaissance-aircraft/lockheed-martin-sr-72/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LockheedSR-71_Blackbird

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_SR-72

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meissner_effect

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_X-43

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsejet

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramjet

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket-based_combined_cycle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scramjet

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-1_flying_bomb

Why is turbulence so important?

"The sky depicted in Vincent van Gogh's 1889 painting, The Starry Night has been studied for its turbulent flow"(Wikipedia, Turbulence)

“In fluid dynamics, turbulence or turbulent flow is fluid motion characterized by chaotic changes in pressure and flow velocity. It is in contrast to laminar flow, which occurs when a fluid flows in parallel layers with no disruption between those layers”. (Wikipedia, Turbulence)

When aircraft or laser beams travel through the gas it pushes particles away from it. Turbulence forms in the border between energy or two materials that have different densities. Turbulence forms on the aircraft wings when some air molecules touch the wing. That forms the whirl and when the aircraft moves ahead it pumps kinetic energy to those whirls. There are vertical and horizontal whirls and when they cross that causes oscillation. When crossing whirls pump energy into each other they start to oscillate the aircraft’s material. 

The whirl can form only in cases where there is a higher energy wall between low-energy or low-pressure fields. The idea is that the outcoming gas cannot break the whirl. The whirl can start to grow until the outcoming gas or energy breaks it. If things like laser beams travel through the gas that forms two whirls around that beam. The whirl also delivers energy inside it. And it can remain until incoming energy breaks it. Or outcoming energy destroys that structure. We call that thing turbulence. If some algorithms that can calculate turbulence are possible that thing can make a big advance for hypersonic aviation and plasma research. 

Turbulence is one of the most important things that we must control and predict. Turbulence, or chaotic whirling is the thing that makes it hard to create hypersonic jet engines. Turbulence is the thing that breaks plasma entirely in fusion systems. When We think about things like ramjet and scramjet engines the whirl that comes behind the dam makes the pressure wave that makes the pressure and heat barrier that ignites fuel breaks the fuel-air mixture shape. The dam is the cone-shaped structure in the ramjet engine. 

And that limits the use of the ramjet engine between Mach 1 and Mach 6. It is not possible to create the structure that connects the ramjet and scramjet engines using conventional methods. (Maybe) There is a test of thin wires at the front of the scramjet. The problem is that those things make the low-pressure area behind them. They look a little bit like fish. And when those pressure waves impact that causes whirls in the engine. 

Ramjet

Scramjet

The thing that limits ramjet speed is the turbulence behind the ramjet’s compression cone. The scramjet engine uses a different shape in the cone. Researchers tried to connect those shapes. But that is very hard to make. So in some ideas, the aircraft uses different turbojets, ramjets, and scramjets. The aircraft will accelerate to Mach 1 using regular turbojets. Then the ramjet system ignites. When the aircraft’s speed is high enough the scramjet engine starts. That allows the plane to operate from regular runways. And it gives it an extremely high speed. 

There is a possibility to create a cone that pulls itself away from the front of the engine. The system can share that cone structure into four bites that the system pulls away from the ramjet, and then the scramjet acts as the afterburner for that system. If the system can remove ramjet's cone it makes it possible to connect the scramjet behind the ramjet. That system can make it possible to create aircraft that can travel with speed Mach 12 and higher. The rocket ramjet means the rocket engine that uses atmospheric air while the aircraft travels in the air, and when it jumps out from the atmosphere that system can close the iris at the front of the ramjet. Then the oxygen-fuel mixture will burn in the engine. That turns to using the internal oxygen source. 

However, we can also consider turbulence and nuclear fusion. The problem in the plasma is that there is forming empty space or a difference between energy levels. The problem is that the lasers cannot push plasma using the same force at all points. If somebody creates a laser that inputs energy to the plasma by using a beam that covers the entire plasma ring that would be a big advance. It is also possible to create anion plasma in the fusion system. And then the ions will inject that plasma ring homogeneously from the entire length of the plasma. 

If the ignition happens homogeneously in the entire plasma that could make the system more stable. The problem with that system is with magnets. The same system that presses anions to the ring pulls ions away. If the system uses laser points, it creates energy hills within the system, which form a situation where the laser beams make whirls inside the plasma. The problem is in the one or mono-polar plasma. 

Particles in ion plasma repel each other. And there are small points where the magnetic system cannot press that plasma with the same power. That point is the connection point of magnets. Those points cause waves in the plasma where those particles will jump away from each other because of electromagnetic repel. That makes space in the plasma ring. And that space allows the form of the whirls. 

https://www.quantamagazine.org/new-superdiffusion-proof-probes-the-mysterious-math-of-turbulence-20250516/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramjet

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scramjet

Venus Aerospace Inc. created the Mach 6 engine. That can start on runways.

Image via Hermeus

It's possible to send a shuttle from the regular runways to space using the ramjet engines. The biggest problem is how to make air travel through ramjet. Because that engine does not have moving parts. 

In the most conventional solutions, the ramjet engine will start at Mach 1. The aircraft can accelerate to Mach 1 using regular jet engines. When the speed is high enough, the system closes the engine compressors and lets the fuel-air mixture travel to the ramjet. 

The main problem with Ramjet engines is that they do not involve moving parts. One solution that can solve this problem is the pulse ramjet. The pulse ramjet is a similar system to the pulsejet, but its engine tube is transferred to the ramjet engine. In pulsejets, the flap system allows the engine to create thrust even if the aircraft doesn't move. 

There is the possibility of installing pulsejet separately from ramjet. The pulsejet accelerates the craft to a speed of about Mach 1. Then the system puts aerodynamic shields on the pulsejet. And injects fuel into the ramjet. There is the possibility that the pulsejet is installed in the ramjet engine tube. The system's purpose is to put air flow backward. 

There are tested systems like the flap system that are similar to the system that was used in the WW2 German V-1 missile. 

The flap ramjet uses a differently shaped engine tube that the V-1 missile's engine uses. And that allows the system to start on runways. This engine system requires a separate ignition system until the speed is so high, that the airflow from the front of the engine can create so high temperature and pressure that the fuel-air mixture burn turns self-sustaining. 

Illustration of Venus Aerospace's Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine for hypersonic travel. Image generated by AI. (Sustainability “Mach 6 From a Runway”: US Unveils Hypersonic Jet Engine That Could Redefine Military Airpower and Global Strike Speed)

Pulsejet

Diagram of a valved pulsejet. 1 - Air enters through the valve and is mixed with fuel. 2 - The mixture is ignited, expands, closes the valve and exits through the tailpipe, creating thrust.3 - Low pressure in the engine opens the valve and draws in air. (Wikipedia, pulsejet). One of the most promising variants of the pulsejet is a pulse detonation engine (PDE) 

"A pulse detonation engine (PDE) is a type of propulsion system that uses detonation waves to combust the fuel and oxidizer mixture. The engine is pulsed because the mixture must be renewed in the combustion chamber between each detonation wave and the next. Theoretically, a PDE can operate from subsonic up to a hypersonic flight speed of roughly Mach 5. " (Wikipedia, Pulse detonation engine)

"An ideal PDE design can have a thermodynamic efficiency higher than other designs like turbojets and turbofans because a detonation wave rapidly compresses the mixture and adds heat at constant volume. Consequently, moving parts like compressor spools are not necessarily required in the engine, which could significantly reduce overall weight and cost. Key issues for further development include fast and efficient mixing of the fuel and oxidizer, the prevention of autoignition, and integration with an inlet and nozzle."  (Wikipedia, Pulse detonation engine)

Ramjet

Simple ramjet operation, with Mach numbers of flow shown (Wikipedia, Ramjet). 

Rotation detonation engine (RDE)

In some cases, the system can use separate compressors and acoustic systems that form pressure waves. Like pistons in the engine. That kind of high-pressure system can create so much heat that the fuel-air mixture can ignite. 

The system works in a similar principle to a diesel engine, where a piston that goes up creates pressure and temperature that allows fuel-air-mixture burn. There are also plans to use the small hypersonic wind tunnels that pull air through the ramjet or scramjet. That makes it possible to ignite those engine systems on runways. Things like explosives behind the engine tube are tested for making the airflow. If the hypersonic engine can start on the runway that makes the ramjets more effective and decreases their weight. 

The system called rocket ramjet can transport spacecraft to orbit from regular runways. The air-breathing ramjet engine transports aircraft to the high atmosphere. There the engine closes its iris. Then the system will start to inject fuel and oxygen into the engine. That gives the spaceplane or antipode aircraft the capacity to operate variously in the atmosphere and space. 

The main problem with ramjet and scramjet engines is the compressor. The compressor's mission is to make air flowing through the engine. Hypersonic technology is challenging because the compressors might not stand the airflow. There is the possibility to make metal rings where the turbine wings are connected. The magnets pull the ring to the axle, and that helps to resist the centripetal force. 

The other version is the rotation detonation (rocket) engine (RDE, RD(R)E). That system base is in the screw-shaped structure in the engine tube. The special compressor and maybe acoustic systems send a fuel-and-air mixture to travel in the screw-shaped structure. One of the solutions that can allow the use of the compressor to operate at the speed of Mach 6 and above can be the "umbrella solution". 

The system turns the engine compressor's wings against the axle when the speed turns high enough. The system can use some kind of electric system. That makes the electric arc in the engine. The compressor is needed to aim the airflow in the right direction. 

The idea is that the friction in that screw or riffled structure ignites the fuel. The system can use some kind of electromagnetic system to heat up the fuel. The ability to start on the regular runways makes those new hypersonic systems travel. At every point on Earth in 90 minutes. The system can revolutionize warfare and transportation. 

https://militaryembedded.com/unmanned/test/hypersonic-drone-to-take-first-flight-later-this-year

https://www.sustainability-times.com/research/mach-6-from-a-runway-us-unveils-hypersonic-jet-engine-that-could-redefine-military-airpower-and-global-strike-speed/

https://wccftech.com/nasa-test-rare-supersonic-rocket-engine-with-circular-combustion/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsejet

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse_detonation_engine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramjet

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotating_detonation_engine