Quarterhorse Hypersonic Aircraft Expected to Fly Mach 5

Hermeus is under a six hundred million dollar contract

In 2018 a group of former members from SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Generation Orbit got together and made a little company called Hermeus.  Hermeus is under a six hundred million dollar contract from the United States Air Force to build a hypersonic aircraft called the Quarterhorse. Which is expected to fly faster than Mach 5. 

What does any of that mean, though?

They expect to hit that Mach 5 mark using a Turbine-Based Combined Cycle engine, or TBCC engine, built around a commercial GE J85 turbojet engine. What does any of that mean, though? Well, a TBCC engine uses your average turbojet to get to those high speeds, wherein a ramjet would ignite while climbing to hypersonic speeds.  The Quarterhorse is still a way out, with the company estimating a flyable prototype out sometime this decade. 

Quarterhorse Video

Quarterhorse 

Design: Hermus Corp. 

Location: Atlanta, GA, U.S.A  

Price: TBA

  • Speed: Mach 5 / 3,856 mph / 6,206 kph 

  • Range: 4,600 mi / 7,400 km 

  • Engine: Turbine-Based Combined Cycle 

  • Cruise Altitude: 95,000’ / 28,956 m 

Features

  • Remotely Piloted 

  • Expected to take flight before the end of the decade.  

  • Working under a $60-million-dollar contract from the U.S. Air Force 

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