
Destinus: A new European startup called Destinus has ambitious plans to launch commercial hypersonic flights by the 2030s.

Second prototype: This is Eiger, the company's second prototype, which successfully completed test flights last year.

Hydrogen: Destinus is now testing its in-house built afterburner technology using hydrogen and is about to start testing hydrogen-powered flight.

Eiger's inaugural flight: "We're going directly to autonomous flights," says Löfqvist. The strategy is to "develop smaller-size drones before we scale it up."

Rendering of the Destinus concept: The Destinus vision proposes enticing journey times such as Frankfurt to Sydney in 4 hours 15, or Memphis to Dubai in 3 hours 30.

Waverider: The prototype adopts the waverider shape first conceived in the 1950s. "The purpose of it is so that you can ride on top of the shock waves that are generated from the vehicle itself," says Löfqvist.