If you’re a fan of rollercoasters, you’ll probably get a thrill out of hitting speeds of up to 100mph on board a theme park ride.
But a new video of a hypersonic sled test makes rollercoaster speeds seem snail-like.
The video shows a high-speed test at the Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, which saw a sled reach dazzling speeds of 6,599 miles/hour.
The test was carried out by the Arnold Engineering Development Complex, which regularly performs these high-speed test runs.
The group explained: “The men and women of the 846th Test Squadron, 704th Test Group, Arnold Engineering Development Complex have been performing developmental ground testing at hypersonic speeds for years - just another example of how AEDC is on the leading edge of innovation and modernization for our nation.”
During the test, the sled traveled Mach 8.6. This is over one mile a second, at 6,599 miles/hour!
In the video, which was uploaded on the Air Force Test Centre Facebook page, the test is first shown at full speed, before being slowed down to half speed and even quarter speed.
Despite this, in all three clips, the sled is travelling so fast that if you blink, you’ll probably miss it.
The test took place inside the centre’s Aerodynamic and Propulsion Test Unit - a tunnel dsienge to test supersonic and hypersonic systems and hardware at true flight conditions.
