HyperCore ram accelerator: one bore, serial combustion, one projectile
The Technology

Rocketless, demonstrated past Mach 5.

General Hypersonics launches from fixed, sea-based, or mobile systems that stay on the ground. The science behind our HyperCore engine is a ram accelerator that converts air and clean gases into extreme kinetic energy, creating a ramjet in a tube that accelerates flight vehicles to Mach 5 and beyond.

Scalable by design

One platform. Multiple sizes. Multiple missions.

A one-of-a-kind engine, purpose built to scale in size, carrying small payloads or large space-bound vehicles at the same performance efficiency. It tailors velocity and G-loads to the mission, from supersonic flight to Mach 5+, from ground to space.

HyperCore scales from a 50mm compact form factor to 250mm targets and defense testing to a 500mm-plus system carrying small satellites to space
HyperCore technology

Ground-based power. Ram acceleration. High-speed flight.

Operational ram accelerators, with more than 70 patents and licenses and thousands of field tests. HyperCore is a new, more versatile approach to high-speed flight and space access, developed by pioneers from Boeing Sea Launch, Blue Origin, Stratolaunch, RTX, the U.S. Air Force, and leading university programs.

Ram Acceleration

Gases ignite in the tube and drive the vehicle to extreme velocity. No first-stage booster, so less mass, fuel, and cost.

Launch

The payload exits into free flight. For orbit, a small second stage finishes the climb.

Reusability

The ground system cools, refuels, and reloads in minutes. Nothing to recover or refurbish.


Mark Russell at the General Hypersonics HyperLab testing facility in Eastern Washington
Live demonstration · 2026

Proven in the field.

"This technology is impressive. Six test flights in two days. We can't test at this rate anywhere." A DoD customer in 2026, on the field demonstration.

For NASA and industrial customers, and under DoD contract across 2025 and 2026, General Hypersonics has run reusable, high-speed launch operations in real field conditions, with rapid turnaround, repeat launches, and proven flight performance in the lab and beyond.


Industrial & Energy

The same physics, underground.

HyperBore fires reusable impactors at hypersonic speed. Repeatable, high-velocity excavation with the drill string and blast crews engineered out. Real revenue that funds the road to space.

10×
Faster than drill & blast
½
The cost per meter

Geothermal

Deeper wells, drilled faster. Clean baseload energy that conventional drilling can't reach economically.

Rare Earth

Critical rare earths like Dy, Tb, and Er, the minerals the defense and energy supply chains depend on.

Infrastructure Tunneling

Faster, cheaper bores for transit, utilities, and defense infrastructure at national scale.

Reusable vehicle landing like an aircraft in a high angle-of-attack flare
What comes after rockets

Zero to Mach 5. Reloaded.

Mach 5+ · 1.7 km/s exit velocity. Space, on demand. Rocketless.

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