NASA Jet Will Try to Go 7,000 MPH (scramjet test rescheduled for 11/16 weather permitting)

AP on Yahoo ^ | 11/15/04 | John Antczak - AP

[NormsRevenge]

LOS ANGELES - In March, NASA (news - web sites) launched an experimental jet that reached a record-setting speed of about 5,000 mph. Now researchers want to leave that milestone in the dust.

NASA's third and last X-43A "scramjet" was set to streak over the Pacific Ocean on Monday at 7,000 mph for 10 or 11 seconds — or 10 times the speed of sound.

The first X-43A flight failed in June 2001 when the booster rocket used to accelerate it to flight speed veered off course and had to be destroyed. The second flight in March was a success, reaching Mach 6.83 — nearly 5,000 mph — and setting a new world speed record for a plane powered by an air-breathing engine.

The last hypersonic X-43A will try, weather permitting, to break that record by making its advanced supersonic combustion ramjet perform at a level that can't even be tested on the ground, project officials said Wednesday from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.

"What we're trying to do is really get to the reality of flight — find out what does work, what doesn't work. So there is risk in this program," said Vince Rausch, Hyper-X program manager at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia.

"We fully anticipate that we've reduced that risk to acceptable levels but you never are sure, especially in doing something for the first time, going Mach 10, until we actually fly."

Just 12 feet long and 5 feet wide, the unmanned X-43A is mounted on the nose of a Pegasus rocket that will be carried aloft to 40,000 feet by NASA's B-52 research aircraft and released. The Pegasus rocket will ignite and carry the X-43A to an altitude of 110,000 feet and a speed of about Mach 10, then release it for its brief powered flight.

The X-43A will then become a glider and perform maneuvers until it splashes down into the ocean.

That will be the end of the X-43A project, which has cost more than $230 million and has no immediate follow-on program.

"I have mixed emotions about this mission," said Joel Sitz, project manager for X-43A flight research at Dryden. "I'm very excited about next week. I'm also a little bit sad about seeing the end of the program. It's like watching your son go off to college."

Scramjet technology may be used in developing hypersonic missiles and airplanes or reusable space launch vehicles, with a potential for offering speeds of at least Mach 15. Unlike rockets, scramjets wouldn't have to carry heavy oxidizer necessary to allow fuel to burn because they can scoop oxygen out of the atmosphere.

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On the Net: http://www.nasa.gov/missions/research/x43-main.html

[NormsRevenge]

Graphic on the X-43A hypersonic aircraft. NASA (news - web sites) is hoping to send the pilotless aircraft across the Pacific Ocean at about 10 times the speed of sound -- almost 3.2 kilometers (two miles) per second.(AFP/File)

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X-43A flight schedule update

The final flight of NASA's X-43A hypersonic research aircraft is still on schedule for Monday afternoon, Nov. 15, weather permitting. The mission is intended to flight-validate the operation of the X-43A's supersonic-combustion ramjet - or scramjet - engine at a record airspeed of almost Mach 10, or 10 times the speed of sound. The X-43A and its modified Pegasus booster rocket was mated to NASA's B-52B launch aircraft on Thursday, Nov. 11. Pre-flight checks of the X-43A and the booster are occurring Friday and Saturday, with final closeouts and fueling slated for Sunday, Nov. 14th.

Takeoff on Nov. 15 is tentatively scheduled for about 1 p.m. Pacific time, with launch about an hour later over the Pacific test range off the coast of Southern California.

Mission events will be broadcast on NASA TV.

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

This flight schedule information will be updated periodically as new information becomes available.

[NormsRevenge]

In this photo released by NASA (news - web sites) Langley Research Center, the 12-foot X-43A hypersonic jet is shown attached to a modified B-52 bomber in an image from NASA television. The third and last X-43A 'scramjet' is set to fly at 7,000 mph for 10 or 11 seconds high over the Pacific Ocean off California and then become a glider and perform maneuvers until it splashes down into the ocean. (AP Photo/NASA TV, HO)

[King Prout]

space ping!

[Conspiracy Guy]

12 feet long and 5 feet wide? The pilot must be tiny.

[ChadGore]

Thanks for the post. Is the weather good ? Is the B52 off the ground yet ?

[NormsRevenge]

Thanks!

Infrared image of the world-record Mach 6.8 flight of the second X-43A scramjet on March 27, 2004. U.S. Army.

Mach 10 Meteor: X-43A Scramjet Flight is Risky Business

[Professional Engineer]

Cool picture.

[ChadGore]

Mach 10 must get a little warm.

[ElkGroveDan]

Don't forget this important graphic:

[Fierce Allegiance]

Imagine what the track record at Talladega would be if NASCAR gave up the carbs and went with scramjet technology? You'd need a hell of a push truck though, like the midgets & sprints, to get it up to about mach 1. Now that would be wild! If the "big one" did occur, there wouldn't be much to clean up, though.

[ChadGore]

I'm looking forward to the flight this afternoon.

[NormsRevenge]

Weather looks ok in the test area,, here's hoping they launch on time.

[markman46]

currently clear but winds from the east. at least at ground level

[visualops]

Dang

[NormsRevenge]

[WalterSkinner]

Isn't this the Aurora?

And hasn't this jet "unofficially" been around for a decade?

Otherwise what is causing those big sonic booms out in the desert and leaving "donuts on a rope" vapor trails?

[pabianice]

Then there was the XF-84H "Thunderscreech," an attempt to create a near mach 1 turboprop.

Because the propellor blade tips exceeded mach 1, the airplane created so much noise (over 145 db) that the line crewmen near the plane would vomit onto the ramp. The USAF canceled the program.

[ProudVet77]

the airplane created so much noise (over 145 db) that the line crewmen near the plane would vomit onto the ramp.

Sounds like a great idea for crowd control at the next RNC.
BTW - Anyone notice all the little silhouettes on the side of the BUFF?

[Travis McGee]

Have you ever heard a Harrier nearby over head? Talk about your THUNDERSCREECH!

[oyez]

Instead of a race track you could have a race cylinder.