Top 10 Fastest Machines Ever Made
#10: “Baby” Boom XB-1
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The Boom XB-1, nicknamed “Baby Boom,” is a supersonic commercial jet currently in development. Featuring three jet engines, the XB-1 is planned to be the first in a new line of commercially available supersonic aircrafts, with a particular emphasis on comfort and sustainability, but most importantly, speed. The company behind the remarkable vehicle, Boom Technology, aims to cut current travel times in half. The XB-1’s cruising speed is stated to be Mach 2.2 (mock), which is around 1675 mph. That’s faster than an F-16! The “Baby Boom” is set to take to the skies in 2021 for its first test flight.
#9: SR-71 Blackbird
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The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird is a high speed reconnaissance aircraft. Although officially retired in the late ‘90s, the Blackbird proved instrumental in gathering intelligence during the Cold War, as it was able to evade radar detection through its design. Because it could fly higher and faster than its pursuers, not a single SR-71 was lost to enemy fire. The Blackbird typically operated at up to 85,000 feet, and it holds a speed record of 2,193 mph or Mach 3.3. That being said, one pilot reports having once pushed the plane above Mach 3.5 when dodging a missile. We know what we’re putting on our Christmas lists!
#8: X-15
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The North American X-15 was an experimental, rocket-powered aircraft that ruled the skies during the ‘60s. The rocket plane was used in early test flights that came close enough to leaving the Earth’s atmosphere that many of its test pilots are technically astronauts. Some of them went on to become astronauts, including Neil Armstrong, the first human on the moon! Along with pushing the boundaries of altitude, the X-15 also set the record for speed in a manned, powered aircraft. On October 3rd, 1967, William J. Knight flew the X-15 at Mach 6.7, or 4,519 mph, a record which remains intact to this day.
#7: Holloman Rocket Sleds
Holloman Air Force base is located in New Mexico, and contains a high speed rail testing area. Since it first began operating in 1950, it’s performed over 12,000 such tests, and even has several record-breaking launches to its name. Back in 2003, an unmanned sled using a Super Roadrunner rocket motor set the record speed for a land vehicle at a whopping Mach 8.4, or somewhere between 6,416 and 6,453 mph. However, this speed was eclipsed by a more recent test in 2019, which saw another rocket sled go 6,599 mph, or Mach 8.6! Locked onto the track and traveling in a straight line, these rocket sleds give new meaning to the phrase “going nowhere fast!”
#6: HTV-2
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The Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2, or HTV-2, is a glide aircraft that the DARPA (read as a word, not letters) Falcon Project experimented with in the early 2010s. Built of lightweight materials and in an aerodynamic design, the HTV-2 is part of a class of gliding vehicles developed for military purposes; they’re more maneuverable than ballistic missiles and less likely to be spotted by radar. The two tests of the HTV-2 yielded top speeds between Mach 17 and Mach 22, or between 13,000 and 16,800 mph! For comparison, at its low end, that’s double our last entry and almost triple at the high end! Given its intended use as a one hour “Prompt Global Strike”, it also makes for a frightening prospect once this technology is perfected!
#5: Apollo 10
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Spacecrafts go fast. That’s just generally what tends to happen when you strap a rocket to something! However, this record-setting speed wasn’t achieved on the way up. Apollo 10 saw astronauts sent on a mission to orbit the moon, in preparation for the famous Apollo 11 mission which would land on its surface. The crew’s return journey, however, had them making history in their own right. Upon reentry into Earth’s atmosphere, the module reached speeds of 24,791 mph, or Mach 32! This impressive figure remains the fastest recorded speed of a piloted vehicle. Astronaut Eugene Cernan (SIR-nin) described the experience as akin to being inside “a ball of white and violet flame.”
#4: Voyager 1
A long-range space probe sent to study the outer planets, Voyager 1 was launched in 1977 and is still sending home data about the universe despite having left our solar system in 2012. It’s currently farther away from Earth than any machine made by humankind. But while it was still in the solar system, Voyager 1 made several flybys of the outer planets and their moons. It was the gravity fields of the larger planets like Jupiter that helped Voyager 1 accelerate to an awe-inspiring speed of 38,000 mph, letting it leave our home system in a hurry.
#3: New Horizons
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No, not the “Animal Crossing” game… although quarantine did help it get popular astonishingly fast! We’re talking about New Horizons the space probe. Launched with the aim of exploring Pluto and the distant Kuiper Belt (Kuiper rhymes with hyper), New Horizons was going over 36,000 mph while leaving Earth’s atmosphere. New Horizons managed to increase its speed after leaving home, as it was moving at 47,000 mph after passing Mars’ orbit, and Jupiter’s gravity increased its speed to 52,000 mph! Its current speed is now less, so it will never overtake Voyager 1; but it’s still travelling at truly incredible speeds as it passes through the Kuiper Belt and leaves our solar system.
#2: Helios-A & B
The two Helios probes were a joint venture between West Germany and the United States to study the sun more closely. Launched in 1974 and 76, these probes were the first of their kind to be constructed outside the USA or USSR and move beyond Earth’s orbit. Because they were headed towards the sun, the star’s tremendous gravity accelerated their speeds to over 157,000 mph! That’s three times New Horizons’ speed! Although the Helios probes remain in the sun’s orbit, they stopped transmitting data after 1986, due to equipment failures and degradation. They sure burned brightly during their initial mission though. Before we get to our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions: Thrust SSC The Fastest Car Ever Made, It’s Capable of 736 mph Hyperloop A Proposed Vacuum Train with Estimated Speeds of 760 mph Cessna Citation X+ (SESS-na citation ten plus) The Fastest Civilian Aircraft, It Has a Top Speed of 606 mph SCMaglev (ess see MAG-lev) The World’s Fastest Train Can Reach 375 mph Spirit of Australia The Fastest Boat On Record, It Can Hit Speeds of 317 mph
#1: Parker Solar Probe
Our fastest machine on record is also the newest! Another probe aimed at studying the Sun (in this case its outer corona), the Parker Solar Probe was launched in August 2018. It will use repeated gravity assists from Venus to get closer to the sun’s corona. A side effect of this is that the Parker Solar Probe’s speed will keep increasing over time, due to the Sun’s pull and the slingshot maneuvers around Venus. As of September 2020, the Probe has been recorded at a speed of 289,927 mph! Not only that, this speed is set to reach well over 400,000 mph by 2025!
