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X-43A

NASA's B-52B aircraft over the Dryden Flight Research Center after the successful launch of the second X-43A hypersonic research vehicle.

 
Photo Number: EC04-0092-43
Photo Date: March 27, 2004
 
Formats: 495x480 JPEG Image (130 KBytes)
1056x1024 JPEG Image (550 KBytes)
2474x2400 JPEG Image (3036 KBytes)
 
Photo
Description:
NASA's B-52B aircraft over the Dryden Flight Research Center after the successful launch of the second X-43A hypersonic research vehicle.
 
Project
Description:
The high-risk, high-payoff X-43A flights are the first actual flight tests of an aircraft powered by a scramjet engine capable of operating at hypersonic speeds (above Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound). The X-43A is powered by a revolutionary air-breathing supersonic-combustion ramjet or "scramjet" engine.

In a combined research effort involving Dryden, Langley, and several industry partners, NASA demonstrated the value of its X-43A hypersonic research aircraft, as it became the first air-breathing, unpiloted, scramjet-powered plane to fly freely by itself. The March 27 flight, originating from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, began with the Agency's B-52B launch aircraft carrying the X-43A out to the test range over the Pacific Ocean off the California coast. The X-43A was boosted up to its test altitude of about 95,000 feet, where it separated from its modified Pegasus booster and flew freely under its own power.

Two very significant aviation milestones occurred during this test flight: first, controlled accelerating flight at Mach 7 under scramjet power, and second, the successful stage separation at high dynamic pressure of two non-axisymmetric vehicles. To top it all off, the flight resulted in the setting of a new aeronautical speed record. The X-43A reached a speed of over Mach 7, or about 5,000 miles per hour faster than any known aircraft powered by an air-breathing engine has ever flown.

 
NASA Photo by: Jim Ross
 
Keywords: X-43A, X-43, Hyper-X, scramjet, launch, flight 2, hypersonic research vehicle, Pegasus booster rocket, B-52, B-52B, mach 7
 


Last Modified: April 8, 2004
Responsible NASA Official: Marty Curry
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