p2pnet.net OT News:- Some early combustion engine pioneers believed if you went faster than 15 miles an hour, you might be injured or killed by the tremendous speed.

Now NASA intends to break the aircraft-speed record for the second time this year by flying its X43a scramjet …

… ten times faster than sound.

“Riding like the tip of a spear on its modified Pegasus booster rocket, NASA’s third X-43A hypersonic scramjet research vehicle took to the skies today for a captive-carry flight, remaining attached to its B-52B mothership aircraft.”

That was on March 27 when the unpiloted, 12-ft-long aircraft achieved Mach 6.83, or nearly 5,000 mph, in an 11-second flight over the Pacific Ocean.

On November 15 the X-43A will again take to the skies to flight-validate the operation of its supersonic-combustion ramjet – or scramjet – engine at a record air-speed of almost Mach 10, or 10 times the speed of sound, says NASA.

“Mating of the X-43A and its modified Pegasus booster rocket to the B-52B launch aircraft is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 11. Takeoff is tentatively scheduled for about 1 p.m. Pacific time Nov. 15, with launch about an hour later over the Pacific test range off the coast of Southern California.”

The famous Mach Number is named after Austrian physicist Ernst Mach. Mach 1 is the speed of sound, about 760 miles per hour at sea level.

Top right, the second X-43A mounted under the right wing of the B-52B, seen from the cockpit.

===================

See:-
tip of a spear – X-43A flight schedule update, NASA, Novembere 11, 2004

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 11th, 2004 at 3:15 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

HOME

Viewed 2056 times