! X-43A Flight ! LIVE ! NOW !

[Macs.]

The unpiloted 12-foot-long X-43A vehicle, part aircraft and part spacecraft, will be dropped from the wing of a B-52 aircraft, lofted to nearly 100,000 feet by a booster rocket and released over the Pacific Ocean to briefly fly under its own power at seven times the speed of sound (almost 5,000 mph).

The flight is part of the Hyper-X program, a research effort designed to demonstrate alternate propulsion technologies for access to space and high-speed flight within the atmosphere.

Hyper-X is inherently a high-risk program. No vehicle has ever flown at hypersonic speeds powered by an air-breathing scramjet engine. In addition, the rocket boost and subsequent separation from the rocket to get to the scramjet test condition have complex elements that must work properly for the mission to be successful.

View the live NASA TV Coverage which will begin at 12:00 p.m. PST on March 27, 2004.

STREAM:http://www.nasa.gov/ram/35037main_portal.ram

http://www.nasa.gov/missions/research/daily_updates.html

[mustamato]

Scramjet? Is it kind of a development of the ramjet, hm?

[George W. Bush]

Scramjet? Is it kind of a development of the ramjet, hm?

Basically, a scramjet can go faster than ramjet.

[George W. Bush]

Another American aeronautical record. Go U.S.A. number one.

[George W. Bush]

God damnit, the pilot is saying there's some fuel pump problem. :lol: :lol: Later for this..

[Herrmannek]

extra
-Roger Roger?
-Clearence Clarence?
:)

[mustamato]

Scramjet? Is it kind of a development of the ramjet, hm?

Basically, a scramjet can go faster than ramjet.

Of course. German V-1´s used a ramjet in example. I wonder more what
a scramjet was technically.

http://www.v2rocket.com/start/deployment/dome-v1.jpg
V-1

[Falco]

Look at this

http://www.aviation-history.com/engines/ramjet.htm

[Ratamacue]

Let's just hope that the booster doesn't **** up on this flight.

[Herrmannek]

Twice time better than BagDCam :)

[Fox2]

God damnit, the pilot is saying there's some fuel pump problem. :lol: :lol: Later for this..



The unpiloted 12-foot-long X-43A vehicle, part aircraft and part spacecraft, will be dropped from the wing of a B-52 aircraft, lofted to nearly 100,000 feet by a booster rocket and released over the Pacific Ocean to briefly fly under its own power at seven times the speed of sound (almost 5,000 mph).

[Herrmannek]

Did he beat 7mach or not, I had some transmission triuble in most hot moment....

[Ratamacue]

I'm not sure, I know for a fact that they broke Mach 5, but I got kinda lost towards the middle/end of the flight.

[Herrmannek]

I'm not sure, I know for a fact that they broke Mach 5, but I got kinda lost towards the middle/end of the flight.

Yes I heard mach 5, but then I had some technical problems and returned just before it hit the water :(

[Ratamacue]

I don't think they got up to Mach 6. Even so, that's quite a successful test.

[Lt-Col A. Tack]

Scramjet? Is it kind of a development of the ramjet, hm?

Basically, a scramjet can go faster than ramjet.

Of course. German V-1´s used a ramjet in example. I wonder more what
a scramjet was technically.



Actually, the German V-1 is a pulsejet. Used low grade gas. An uncompressed fuel-air mixture is ignited in a combustion chamber.
Gases expand and rush out the back. This creates a vacuum, which
opens the intake valves, and draws in more fuel and air. Also creates a resonance.

Efficiency is determined by how well the resonance of the tail pipe matches that of the intake valves.

Clever, but not a ramjet by any stretch.

A ramjet is really simple actually. I don't think any moving parts are necssary. It has a pressure rise in the engine provide by the ram
effect of the incoming high-kinetic energy air. Fuel is introduced and ignited. Needs to be going really fast before it can be fired.

I frankly don't know how a scramjet is different. Anybody?

I know the X-43 carries is own hydrogen.

[Ratamacue]

I was under the impresssion that the X-43 doesn't carry its own hydrogen, that it's able to extract any fuel it needs from the air passes through.

http://www.aviation-history.com/engines/ramjet.htm

http://www.aviation-history.com/engines/fact-6.jpg

A ramjet has no moving parts and achieves compression of intake air by the forward speed of the air vehicle. Air entering the intake of a supersonic aircraft is slowed by aerodynamic diffusion created by the inlet and diffuser to velocities comparable to those in a turbojet augmentor. The expansion of hot gases after fuel injection and combustion accelerates the exhaust air to a velocity higher than that at the inlet and creates positive push.

http://www.aviation-history.com/engines/fact-7.jpg

Scramjet is an acronym for Supersonic Combustion Ramjet. The scramjet differs from the ramjet in that combustion takes place at supersonic air velocities through the engine. It is mechanically simple, but vastly more complex aerodynamically than a jet engine. Hydrogen is normally the fuel used.

That's basically the difference between the ramjet and scramjet.

[Lt-Col A. Tack]

I was under the impresssion that the X-43 doesn't carry its own hydrogen, that it's able to extract any fuel it needs from the air passes through.


I could be wrong, but I thought someone had said that it does carry
hydrogen.

The hydrogen is combined with oxygen in the incoming air.

Correct me if I'm wrong :)

[Seraphim]

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

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20040324/capt.la10103242220.hypersonic_jet_la101.jpg
NASA (news - web sites)'s X-43A, a single-use 12-foot unmanned jet, is displayed during ground testing in this December 1999, file photo at the Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., NASA said Wednesday, March 24, 2004, the X-43A is scheduled to make a brief flight on Saturday during which the space agency hopes it will reach Mach 7, or nearly 5,000 mph. The first attempt to to fly the jet three years ago resulted in a an explosion over the Pacific Ocean. (AP Photo/NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Tom Tschida)


http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20040326/i/r1445166020.jpg
The black X-43A rides on the front of a modified Pegasus booster rocket hung from the special pylon under the wing of NASA (news - web sites)'s B-52B mother ship during a captive carry flight January 26, 2004 to verify systems before an upcoming launch in this file photograph. NASA has set March 27, 2004 for another test flight of its experimental X-43A hypersonic research aircraft. The unmanned 12-foot-long vehicle, part aircraft and part spacecraft, will be dropped from the wing of a modified B-52 aircraft, boosted to nearly 100,000 feet altitude by a booster rocket and released over the Pacific Ocean to briefly fly under its own power at seven times the speed of sound, almost 5,000 mph. NO SALES NASA/Carla Thomas/Handout




By ROBERT JABLON, Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES - Three years after its first test flight ended in an explosion, NASA (news - web sites) on Saturday successfully launched an experimental jet designed to reach speeds approaching 5,000 mph.


The unpiloted X-43A made a 10-second powered flight, then went through some twists and turns during a six-minute glide before plunging into the Pacific Ocean about 400 miles off the California coast.


"Everything worked according to plan. It's been wonderful," NASA spokeswoman Leslie Williams said. "I actually thought it was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. We've been waiting a few years."


It wasn't immediately clear what speed the needle-nosed jet achieved after it was boosted to about 3,500 mph by a rocket, Williams said.


The first X-43A flight ended in failure June 2, 2001, after the modified Pegasus rocket used to accelerate the plane veered off course and was detonated. An investigation board found preflight analyses failed to predict how the rocket would perform, leaving its control system unable to maintain stable flight.


NASA built the X-43A under a $250 million program to develop and test an exotic type of engine called a supersonic-combustion ramjet, or scramjet.


In theory, the air-breathing engine could propel an airplane to speeds of Mach 7 or faster, enabling around-the-world flights that would take several hours. The Department of Defense (news - web sites) also is working on the technology, which it's eyeing for use in bombers that quickly could reach targets anywhere on the globe.


The 2,800-pound X-43A was mounted on a Pegasus rocket booster and carried to an altitude of 40,000 feet by a modified B-52 bomber, which took off from Edwards Air Force Base in the high desert.


A few seconds after the craft was dropped, the rocket flared, sending the jet skyward on a streak of flame and light. At about 100,000 feet, the rocket dropped away.


The scramjet took over, using up about two pounds of gaseous hydrogen fuel before gliding. Applause rang out in the control center at Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards.


Technological hurdles mean it will be decades before such a plane could enter service. And NASA's role in developing the technology remains in doubt, as the agency recently cut funding for more advanced versions of the X-43A.


Engineers have pursued scramjet technology because it could allow rocket-speed travel but with considerable savings in weight. Rockets must carry their own oxygen to combust the fuel they carry aboard; scramjets can scoop it out of the atmosphere.


In scramjets, oxygen is rammed into a combustion chamber where it mixes with fuel and spontaneously ignites. To work, the engine must be traveling at about five times the speed of sound — requiring an initial boost that only a rocket can provide.


A third X-43A could fly as early as the fall.

[Lt-Col A. Tack]

Here's a good link:

http://www.fas.org/spp/guide/usa/launch/x-43.htm

[budanski]

Forget the civil aspect of this testing, I'm awaiting for the the hypersonic cruise missles.

[sudden_strike]

Rockets are still going to own the hypersonic turf for many years because they function anywhere, at any speed, in any conditions. Even under water powerring Russian torpedoes that go 6x faster than the usual ones.
The V2 hit over 5000 kmh beeg world`s first supersonic, hypersonic, AND world first space rocket. Now that alone can guve you a clue about the potential.
Srcamjets, beeng what they are, will be arrested by atmosphere.

The guy that sayd about the V1 - same one on Stormfront propably, go read a bit first before you post.

[Clay]

They just said that they got over 7

[usa320]

hypersonic cruise missiles are a good idea...right now the TLAM and ALCM cruise at a mere 550 knots...not a good speed if you want to hit a target some 1,000 miles away in a decent amount of time.

[Ghostwolf]

Of course. German V-1´s used a ramjet in example. I wonder more what
a scramjet was technically.

http://www.v2rocket.com/start/deployment/dome-v1.jpg
V-1

The V-1 uses a pulse jet engine, not a ramjet engine.

http://www.rocketreviews.com/reviews/scratch/v1_buzz_bomb.html

[Ratamacue]

I was under the impresssion that the X-43 doesn't carry its own hydrogen, that it's able to extract any fuel it needs from the air passes through.


I could be wrong, but I thought someone had said that it does carry
hydrogen.

The hydrogen is combined with oxygen in the incoming air.

Correct me if I'm wrong :)

You could be right, but thought that one of the great selling points of scramjets was that they don't use any stored fuel except for whatever brings them up to the speed at which scramjets can take over.

[cut]

Another American aeronautical record. Go U.S.A. number one.

just a shame the aussies managed to do mach 7.6 with their scramjet in Aug 2002.

[Flagg]

A ramjet has no moving parts and achieves compression of intake air by the forward speed of the air vehicle. Air entering the intake of a supersonic aircraft is slowed by aerodynamic diffusion created by the inlet and diffuser to velocities comparable to those in a turbojet augmentor. The expansion of hot gases after fuel injection and combustion accelerates the exhaust air to a velocity higher than that at the inlet and creates positive push.

Scramjet is an acronym for Supersonic Combustion Ramjet. The scramjet differs from the ramjet in that combustion takes place at supersonic air velocities through the engine. It is mechanically simple, but vastly more complex aerodynamically than a jet engine. Hydrogen is normally the fuel used.

[Ratamacue]

Another American aeronautical record. Go U.S.A. number one.

just a shame the aussies managed to do mach 7.6 with their scramjet in Aug 2002.

I'm not entirely sure. During the press conference after the test, one of the guys said it was a new speed record.