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Scientist links Hypersonic Flight to Florida

Boeing's chief hypersonic flight scientist speaks at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Tuesday night about what he calls the last frontier of aerodynamics.

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Dr. Kevin Bowcutt says Boeing is working with Florida based companies that have experience with hypersonic flight, including Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne which designed the engines used on the Space Shuttle.

Hypersonic flight which achieves speeds more than five times the speed of sound,has been possible for more than 50 years but only recently become possible without rocket propulsion.

Boeing lost its hypersonic test vehicle, the X51, last year but is  planning another test flight this summer.

Kevin Bowcutt says students at Daytona’s Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, have plenty of opportunities to pursue a career in hypersonic aviation right here in Florida.

“Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne, in West Palm Beach, developed the X51 scramjet engine which we’re flying, they’re Boeing’s partner in X51. There’s also small companies, there’s several universities doing hypersonics research, so there's quite a bit, but the big one is Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne."

Dr. Bowcutt says the first practical use of a jet powered hypersonic aircraft is likely to be a cruise missile, but a hypersonic space plane could also be flying by the middle of the century.

For 90.7 WMFE in Orlando, I’m Matthew Peddie.

 

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