Supersonic

The Bloodhound supersonic car project has bounced back from the brink of bankruptcy to set its sights on the land speed record once again. The vehicle will hit the track in October for the first time since its relaunch, with plans to carry out high-speed testing in a South African desert.

After being salvaged from the scrapheap of highly promising but highly ambitious vehicular endeavors, the record-seeking Bloodhound Supersonic Car has been moved into a new research center with efforts to bring it up to speed now continuing apace.

Fifty years ago, the first Concorde SST took to the skies over Toulouse, France. Hailed in its day as a technological achievement to rival the first manned Moon landing. So, get your VIP boarding pass as we look back at the career of the luxury passenger aircraft that flew faster than the Sun.

Boeing has entered the race to build the next generation of supersonic commercial aircraft, announcing a new partnership with Aerion. Though few details were given, the new agreement will see Boeing provide a "significant investment", as well as technical assistance.

Commercial supersonic flight has left the drawing board with Lockheed Martin announcing fabrication of the first part of the X-59 Quiet Supersonic Technology (QueSST) test aircraft has begun at the company's famous Skunk Works, setting the project on course for its maiden flight scheduled for 2021.

GE Aviation has given impetus to the revival of civilian supersonic flight by revealing a new family of engines designed to fly faster than the speed of sound. Called the Affinity, the new engine will be incorporated into Aerion AS2 supersonic business jet.

NASA has awarded a US$247.5 million contract to Lockheed Martin to design, build, and test a prototype supersonic aircraft capable of generating no more noise than a car door closing while flying faster than the speed of sound over populated areas.

NASA sees folding wings as a key aeronautical technology for the aircraft of tomorrow and to make it practical, the space agency is looking to a cutting edge, lightweight memory alloy that allows an aircraft's wing and control surfaces to change their shape in flight without heavy hydraulic systems.

With several major players currently working on supersonic passenger jets, Aerion and Lockheed Martin are targeting those for whom even first class commercial air travel is substandard. The pair has just announced a partnership to develop the world's first supersonic business jet.

​Following its first public runs back in October, the team behind the Bloodhound Supersonic Car has shifted its focus to the dry lake bed in South Africa, where it hopes to shatter the world's land speed record in 2020.

The Bloodhound Supersonic Car (SSC) just completed its first public tests at Cornwall Airport Newquay. The tests are the first big outings for the car ahead of its long-term goal of shattering the world’s land speed record and crossing the 1000 mph (1600 kmh) threshold.

Spike Aerospace took to the skies for the first time on Saturday as it tested a subsonic, subscale version of its planned S-512 supersonic passenger plane. The unmanned SX-1.2 made the first of a series of seven short flights to prove the validity of the aircraft's aerodynamics.