RandomGuy
05-27-2010, 12:49 PM
Mach 6 and higher using this type of scramjet engine makes getting to the edge of space a LOT easier.
This is part of a steady march towards some very real tech that will finally open up our solar system.
USAF vehicle breaks record for hypersonic flight
WASHINGTON – An experimental aircraft has set a record for hypersonic flight, flying more than 3 minutes at Mach 6 — six times the speed of sound.
The X-51A Waverider was released from a B-52 Stratofortress off the southern California coast Wednesday morning, the Air Force reported on its website. Its scramjet engine accelerated the vehicle to Mach 6, and it flew autonomously for 200 seconds before losing acceleration. At that point the test was terminated.
The Air Force said the previous record for a hypersonic scramjet burn was 12 seconds.
"We are ecstatic to have accomplished many of the X-51A test points during its first hypersonic mission," said Charlie Brink, an X-51A program manager with the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
"We equate this leap in engine technology as equivalent to the post-World War II jump from propeller-driven aircraft to jet engines," Brink said.
The Waverider was built for the Air Force by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne and Boeing Co.
Joe Vogel, Boeing's director of hypersonics, said, "This is a new world record and sets the foundation for several hypersonic applications, including access to space, reconnaissance, strike, global reach and commercial transportation."
Four X-51A cruisers have been built for the Air Force, and the remaining three will be tested this fall.
"No test is perfect," Brink said, "and I'm sure we will find anomalies that we will need to address before the next flight."
Background reading:
Wiki entry for scramjet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scramjet) showing the type of engine and how it works.
Wiki entry for X-51 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-51) (not overly good, but it is a good jump point due to related links within article)
GlobalSecurity.org entry with a good chunk of detail on the X-51 (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/x-51.htm)
VERY good bit on "specific impulse", (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specific_impulse) the ultimate measure of thrust for engines, showing a really good graph of engines and mach numbers. Scramjets top out at the mach 10 range.
A bit on VISMIR engines (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_specific_impulse_magnetoplasma_rocket)for pure space tugs suggesting the costs of interplanetary travel will get cheaper as well.
Cheaper costs of getting to orbit + cheaper costs of moving around solar system = Extraterrestrial colonies for us.
We have lived our entire existance with the risk that one big ass asteroid will render the universe humanless, and have the ability to increase our long term survivability as a species within my life time.
I wanna go to Mars.
This is part of a steady march towards some very real tech that will finally open up our solar system.
USAF vehicle breaks record for hypersonic flight
WASHINGTON – An experimental aircraft has set a record for hypersonic flight, flying more than 3 minutes at Mach 6 — six times the speed of sound.
The X-51A Waverider was released from a B-52 Stratofortress off the southern California coast Wednesday morning, the Air Force reported on its website. Its scramjet engine accelerated the vehicle to Mach 6, and it flew autonomously for 200 seconds before losing acceleration. At that point the test was terminated.
The Air Force said the previous record for a hypersonic scramjet burn was 12 seconds.
"We are ecstatic to have accomplished many of the X-51A test points during its first hypersonic mission," said Charlie Brink, an X-51A program manager with the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
"We equate this leap in engine technology as equivalent to the post-World War II jump from propeller-driven aircraft to jet engines," Brink said.
The Waverider was built for the Air Force by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne and Boeing Co.
Joe Vogel, Boeing's director of hypersonics, said, "This is a new world record and sets the foundation for several hypersonic applications, including access to space, reconnaissance, strike, global reach and commercial transportation."
Four X-51A cruisers have been built for the Air Force, and the remaining three will be tested this fall.
"No test is perfect," Brink said, "and I'm sure we will find anomalies that we will need to address before the next flight."
Background reading:
Wiki entry for scramjet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scramjet) showing the type of engine and how it works.
Wiki entry for X-51 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-51) (not overly good, but it is a good jump point due to related links within article)
GlobalSecurity.org entry with a good chunk of detail on the X-51 (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/x-51.htm)
VERY good bit on "specific impulse", (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specific_impulse) the ultimate measure of thrust for engines, showing a really good graph of engines and mach numbers. Scramjets top out at the mach 10 range.
A bit on VISMIR engines (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_specific_impulse_magnetoplasma_rocket)for pure space tugs suggesting the costs of interplanetary travel will get cheaper as well.
Cheaper costs of getting to orbit + cheaper costs of moving around solar system = Extraterrestrial colonies for us.
We have lived our entire existance with the risk that one big ass asteroid will render the universe humanless, and have the ability to increase our long term survivability as a species within my life time.
I wanna go to Mars.