ScienceSeptember 3, 2026

hypersonic

HY-per-son-ik

Definition

Relating to speeds that are at least five times the speed of sound (Mach 5 or greater).

Etymology

Derived from the Greek 'hyper-' meaning 'over' or 'beyond' and the Latin 'sonus' meaning 'sound'. It was coined to describe flight velocities exceeding the speed of sound by a large margin.

In the news

The article uses the term to describe the extreme conditions of a space capsule's reentry into Earth's atmosphere, which requires intense computational simulations to predict thermal effects.

What Can You Do With 50,000 GPUs?

Read the full article ↗

USC Viterbi School of Engineering

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