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Boeing: Hypersonic scramjet sets record in first flight (X-51A update)
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Blogs ^ | May 26, 2010 3:18 p.m. | Aubrey Cohen

Posted on 05/26/2010 4:24:30 PM PDT by bkopto

In its first flight attempt, the X-51A WaveRider Wednesday completed the longest supersonic combustion ramjet-powered flight in history, flying nearly three and a half minutes at a top speed of Mach 5, although it fell short of its target duration and speed, according to Boeing.

The unmanned aerial vehicle was released from a U.S. Air Force B-52H bomber off the southern California coast around 10 a.m. and flew autonomously for more than 200 seconds, powered by its Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne supersonic combustion ramjet motor, transmitting telemetry data to ground stations, Boeing said in a news release.

"Something then occurred that caused the vehicle to lose acceleration. At that point, the X-51A was terminated as planned."

Officials had hoped the vehicle would fly for 300 seconds and accelerate to about Mach 6 before splashing down. Despite the something that occurred, Boeing and Air Force officials touted the test.

"The technology proven today is something The Boeing Company has worked on for the past seven years," Alex Lopez, vice president of Boeing Phantom Works' Advanced Network & Space Systems, said in the news release. "It is thrilling to be a part of history and advance hypersonic science to the next level. Boeing is looking forward to transitioning the technology to operation in the near term, but for now, we are exhilarated."

Charlie Brink, X-51A program manager with the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, said: "We are ecstatic to have accomplished many of the X-51A test points during its first hypersonic mission. This gives us huge confidence. We built four test vehicles to get a successful flight, and we hit many of our goals right out of the gate, the first time around."

Four seconds after being released at approximately 50,000 feet, a solid rocket booster accelerated the X-51A to about Mach 4.5 before it was jettisoned. The X-51A's engine ignited on a mix of ethylene and JP-7 jet fuel and after a short period ran exclusively on JP-7 jet fuel, reaching an altitude of about 70,000 feet.

Joe Vogel, Boeing director of Hypersonics and X-51A program manager, said the test "sets the foundation for several hypersonic applications, including access to space, reconnaissance, strike, global reach and commercial transportation."

The team will review the data from today's test before scheduling additional flights with the three remaining test vehicles, which do not have recovery systems, Boeing said. X-51A is a collaborative effort of the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, with industry partners Boeing and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne.


TOPICS: Extended News
KEYWORDS: boeing; hypersonic; scramjet; x51; x51a
Congratulations to Boeing and EAFB Flight Test Center.
1 posted on 05/26/2010 4:24:30 PM PDT by bkopto
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To: bkopto

Sounds like Vandenberg and the WTR might deserve some applause too.


2 posted on 05/26/2010 4:28:57 PM PDT by pfflier
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To: bkopto; KevinDavis

bump


3 posted on 05/26/2010 4:30:04 PM PDT by GeronL (Political Correctness Kills)
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To: bkopto

4 posted on 05/26/2010 4:43:39 PM PDT by colorado tanker
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To: colorado tanker

Stories like this make me wish I had never abandoned my quest for an Aerospace Engineering degree.


5 posted on 05/26/2010 4:47:17 PM PDT by EricT. (Can we start hanging them yet?)
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To: bkopto

Way to go, guys.

And as to not meeting the expected goals of the flight, well, THAT’S WHY IT’S A TEST PROGRAM! That means you’re learning new things, and making progress to getting a deliverable production system.


6 posted on 05/26/2010 4:56:30 PM PDT by Yossarian (A pro-life democrat is one who holds out for something in return for his pro-abortion vote.)
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To: colorado tanker

It sure looks tiny on the front of that booster.


7 posted on 05/26/2010 5:02:41 PM PDT by higgmeister ( In the Shadow of The Big Chicken!)
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To: bkopto

Aerospike ramjet......how cool is that!


8 posted on 05/26/2010 5:19:40 PM PDT by ScreamingFist
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To: bkopto



9 posted on 05/26/2010 5:21:12 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Judas Iscariot - the first social justice advocate. John 12:3-6)
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To: bkopto
Sounds fast... But consider this from the late Pete Knight:

Signal: You hold the record as the fastest man in the world. What's your military background, and what was the record you set?

Knight: I was a test pilot at Edwards (Air Force Base) for a good many years and flew a lot of airplanes. (I) ended up flying the X-15, which was a rocket-powered airplane, a research airplane. There (were) only three of them built. One of my projects on the X-15 was expanding the envelope out to mach 8, for the primary purpose of developing a little scramjet engine that we would carry on the bottom of the airplane — similar to what just happened.

In that process of building up to mach 8, I set a record every time I flew that airplane. The first one was (mach) 6.3, and then 6.7, and 4,520 mph. At that time they canceled the scramjet program, and therefore there was no reason to go faster, so we canceled the X-15 program.

Signal: What year was that?

Knight: 1967. That's 35 years ago. You know, it's unconscionable that a record stands for that long. it gives you an idea of how much (research and development) that we are not doing anymore.

10 posted on 05/26/2010 5:24:32 PM PDT by concentric circles
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To: concentric circles

bump


11 posted on 05/26/2010 5:32:38 PM PDT by aruanan
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To: EricT.

I know what you mean, but the really cool jobs like this are few and far between.


12 posted on 05/26/2010 7:00:35 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (The US will not die with a whimper. It will die with thundering applause from the left.)
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To: higgmeister

I don’t believe there’s a booster attached yet. The entire thing is the X-51A.


13 posted on 05/27/2010 6:19:27 AM PDT by green iguana
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To: higgmeister

My bad - the SRB is attached. Makes up a bit under half the length of what’s shown.


14 posted on 05/27/2010 7:17:28 AM PDT by green iguana
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To: bkopto

One clear night about nine years ago, my wife and I observed a thing flying very high from horizon to horizon which left a string of ‘puffs’ across the sky.


15 posted on 05/27/2010 7:20:52 AM PDT by MHGinTN (Obots, believing they cannot be deceived, it is impossible to convince them when they are deceived.)
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To: MHGinTN

Aurora.


16 posted on 05/27/2010 7:24:24 AM PDT by mad_as_he$$ (Don't go chasing waterfalls.....)
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To: mad_as_he$$

That is what I thought, also. The item took just under eleven seconds to make the trip across my visible horizon, which I estimate to be 150 degrees of open sky. If you’re into geometry, I estimated the item to be at sixty to eighty thousand feet. I did not directly count the number of ‘puffs’ but they became visibile at approximately a third of a second each from my vantage point.


17 posted on 05/27/2010 7:55:52 AM PDT by MHGinTN (Obots, believing they cannot be deceived, it is impossible to convince them when they are deceived.)
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To: MHGinTN

Classic Aurora sighting.


18 posted on 05/27/2010 8:58:57 AM PDT by mad_as_he$$ (Don't go chasing waterfalls.....)
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To: higgmeister

That’s why I chose that pik. I was struck by the same thing.


19 posted on 05/27/2010 9:10:52 AM PDT by colorado tanker
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