#x-43

[lonestarflight]

"A modified Pegasus rocket drops away after release from NASA's B-52B before accelerating the X-43A over a Pacific Ocean test range."

Date: November 16, 2004

NASA ID: EC04-0325-32

[kramlabs]

X-43: High-hypersonic* scramjet Micro Craft

NASA X-43 - Wikipedia

NASA X-43 - Wikipedia

A comprehensive article on the X-43 Hyper-X hypersonic research aircraft.

…

* high-hypersonic speeds are Mach 10-25 or 7,673 -19,183 mph

[kramlabs]

Hypersonic weapons can make virtually all missile defenses useless — and destabilize the world order

Hypersonic technology can make ICBMs and cruise missiles render current missile defenses useless

[projecthabu]

     This Rockwell X-30 1/3 scale mock-up, constructed by Mississippi State University in June of 1992, resides at the "Aviation Challenge" campus in Huntsville, Alabama. It represents some of the last remnants of a proposed single-stage-to-orbit hypersonic airliner, meant to carry passengers from Washington D.C. to Tokyo in two hours.

     In the mid-1980s, the Regan administration approached Ben Rich, Kelly Johnson's successor in running the Skunk Works. They offered the Skunk Works twelve million dollars to perform a feasibility study for developing this mach 12 aircraft. Ben said, "I couldn't design such a vehicle if they offered me twelve billion. That project was nothing but a simple-minded boondoggle from start to finish."

     The prototype was never made and the program was cancelled by 1993. However, the successful X-43 was heavily based on this design. The unmanned X-43 made it to mach 9.68 and eventually evolved into the X-51 WaveRider, which is still in flight testing today. Ben was right, though. The X-30 never flew, and its unmanned successors haven't made it to mach 12 yet.

[photos-mdx]

NASA X-43

[sciencescapes]

NASA X-43

Wikipedia:

"The X-43 is an unmanned experimental hypersonic aircraft with multiple planned scale variations meant to test various aspects of hypersonic flight. It was part of NASA's Hyper-X program and has set several airspeed records for jet-propelled aircraft. The X-43 is the fastest aircraft on record at over 6,500 miles per hour (10,461 Km/H)."