China's success in testing a material considered impossible for making hypersonic vehicles means China is ahead of the United States in the hypersonic race. The application of this technology has subverted traditional wisdom and opened up a new path. In tests conducted by the Chinese military, scientists applied the new material to the surface of an aircraft called Waverider. Such aircraft use the shock waves generated by its own flight to increase lift, and the surrounding air is heated to thousands of degrees Celsius. Through telemetry data analysis, the scientists found that this smooth, non-ablative surface not only keeps key components inside the aircraft cool, but also allows wireless signals to enter and exit freely, enabling target recognition and communication during flight. The team led by Ai Bangcheng, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that this new thermal protection technology can help develop a new generation of reusable hypersonic vehicles with longer range and faster speed, constantly breaking through flight boundaries. They believe that the hypersonic race has entered a new phase and faces great challenges and opportunities.
Hypersonic vehicles have longer flight times and higher speeds than conventional ballistic missiles. The United States once launched a number of hypersonic vehicle development projects, but these projects were canceled due to problems with the surface materials of the aircraft. In recent years, the U.S. government has restarted its hypersonic program, but still faces problems such as thermal damage. Chinese scientists say they have overcome the challenges at this stage and successfully used hypersonic missiles. The second phase of the hypersonic race goes beyond missiles, they say, focusing on the development of long-range reusable platforms with military and civilian applications. These hypersonic aircraft can perform reconnaissance missions, drop bombs, intercept stealth aircraft, and even deliver special forces to any location within an hour or two. Chinese scientists say achieving this goal requires a fundamentally different approach to thermal management.
In their paper, they list several possible options, such as polishing the surface to extremely smooth conditions, adding elements to enhance ablation resistance, redesigning the surface structure to reduce weight, and using liquid media to convert harmful heat into propulsion thrust. These technologies are also being studied in laboratories in other countries, but China has made significant progress in this area. The concept of hypersonic flight was first proposed by Chinese scientist Qian Xuesen and has been applied in China's rocket program. Qian Xuesen proposed a way to turn the thermal protection problem into a scientific problem, allowing scientists from different backgrounds to solve this challenge together. According to the Pentagon, China has conducted more hypersonic test flights in a year than the United States has conducted in the past decade. The Chinese military has surprised the U.S. military by testing hypersonic vehicles around the world, and its technology is considered to violate the laws of physics. Although China is leading the hypersonic race, this does not mean that the United States has not made any progress.
The U.S. government is also actively promoting the development of hypersonic technology and trying to overcome its challenges. Hypersonic flight, as an emerging technology, will play an important role in the military and civilian sectors of the future. Whether it is China or the United States, in this race, they are constantly exploring and breaking through the boundaries and bringing more possibilities to the world.