Oh do we have a treat for you! We're joined by a couple hypersonic "influencers", Dr. Chris Combs of the University of Texas at San Antonio and Alex Hollings, the Editor in Chief of Sandboxx News, for a thrilling, engaging, and occasionally controversial conversation about the state of hypersonics in the world today. 00:00 - Intros 03:06 - What is hypersonics? What is hype and what is reality? 08:58 - Hypersonic planes vs hypersonic weapons 13:07 - What are the most interesting problems in hypersonics? 18:50 - Airplanes are objectively cool 22:00 - Airplane development timelines 24:57 - Testing and developing complex air and spacecraft 37:43 - NASA vs SpaceX development approach 55:27 - Assessing risk and how failure breeds success 58:02 - Perceptions vs reality 01:00:15 - Scramjet, boost-glide, and ramjet hypersonic flight 01:01:42 - Highly coupled systems 01:03:43 - The hardest thing about hypersonics: people 01:10:02 - Alex Hollings on Hermeus and Defense reporting 01:14:41 - Wrap up and where to find Chris and Alex