 |
X-43A rode on the first stage of an Orbital Sciences Corp. booster
rocket on March 27, 2004. It was launched by NASA Dryden's B-52 at about
40,000 feet. The booster accelerated the Hyper-X research
vehicle to the test conditions (Mach 7 or 10) at approximately 100,000
feet, where it separated from the booster and flew under its own power.
Orbital Science's Launch Vehicles Division in Chandler, Arizona.
builds the Hyper-X launch vehicles.
Photos and graphics of the X-43 are available in the Photo Collection and Graphics Collection. Additional features are in a special edition of the Dryden X-Press.
| DFRC Movie # |
Date |
Movie Description |
Flight 3
News Releases:
04-59
04-58
04-57
04-56
04-55
04-53
04-51
04-50
04-49 |
| EM-0015-15 |
November 16, 2004 |
X-43A Hypersonic Scramjet Compiled Video, Flights 2 and 3 Mar. 27 and Nov. 16, 2004 |
| EM-0015-14 |
November 16, 2004 |
X-43A/Pegusus booster rocket launch |
| EM-0015-13 |
November 16, 2004 |
B-52B takeoff with X-43A |
| EM-0015-12 |
November 1, 2004 |
Getting ready for Mach 10 |
Flight 2
News Releases:
04-20
04-16
04-15
04-14
04-12
04-06
04-03 04-02 |
| EM-0015-11 |
September 27, 2004 |
Captive carry flight of Vehicle #3 |
| EM-0015-07 |
March 27, 2004 |
X-43A taking off on second test flight |
| EM-0015-08 |
March 27, 2004 |
X-43A pre-launch flight control tests |
| EM-0015-09 |
March 27, 2004 |
X-43A successful launch from B-52 mothership |
| EM-0015-10 |
March 27, 2004 |
X-43A Hypersonic Separation and Free Flight Infrared Footage |
| EM-0015-05 |
January 26, 2004 |
X-43 captive carry flight |
| EM-0015-06 |
2004 |
X-43 overview with narration |
| Older Movies |
| EM-0015-01 |
1997 |
X-43A / Pegasus stack drop launch from B-52 mothership - computer animation |
| EM-0015-02 |
1997 |
X-43A separation from Pegasus and flight - computer animation |
| EM-0015-03 |
June 2, 2001 |
First B-52 captive flight of X-43A / Pegasus stack |
| EM-0015-04 |
June 2, 2001 |
X-43 / Hyper-X first launch |
With a contract awarded to MicroCraft, Inc., Tullahoma, Tennessee, in March of
1997, NASA embarked on a significant new
project to demonstrate the use of
supersonic combustion ramjet (scramjet) technologies at hypersonic speeds on
sub-scale vehicles now known as X-43As. Three of these vehicles are being
fabricated at MicroCraft. The Hyper-X Program seeks to demonstrate
airframe-integrated, air-breathing engine technologies that promise to increase
aircraft speeds and payload capacities for reusable space launchers.
Scramjets employ ramjet engines in which the internal airflow remains
supersonic. Ramjets operate by combustion of fuel in a stream of air compressed
by the forward speed of the vehicle, unlike a normal jet engine in which
compressor blades perform
that function. Normal ramjets operate with subsonic
internal airflow and combustion; they operate from a speed of about
Mach 2 to
Mach 5. With supersonic combustion, scramjets can operate at speeds faster than
the Mach 6.7 speed achieved by
the rocket-powered X-15. Scramjets can
potentially carry more payload than rockets because they are air-breathing and
do
not have to carry their own supply of oxygen.
This joint program among Langley Research Center, Hampton Virginia, Dryden
Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, and industry seeks to fulfill a
key NASA goal of providing next-generation design tools and experimental
aircraft to increase design confidence and cut the design cycle time for
aircraft. Langley has been leading the effort to develop the new technology.
Dryden has been responsible for the flight research effort as well as managing
the fabrication of the X-43A vehicles and expendable booster rockets that will
carry them to speeds of Mach 7 (two flights) and
Mach 10 (one flight). The program has also assembled an industrial team
providing some of the flight components.
These components include the venerable Dryden B-52, which will carry a modified
Pegasus® (a registered trademark of
Orbital Sciences Corporation of
Dulles, Virginia) launch vehicle to which the X-43A will be attached. The
flights will carry the vehicles
over the Sea Test Range off the coast of
southern California, where the B-52 will drop the launch vehicle at altitudes
ranging between 18,000 and 39,000 feet. The X-43A will be boosted to the
respective Mach 7 and Mach 10 speeds, whereupon it will separate from the
launch vehicle and demonstrate the scramjet technology.
The objectives of the unpiloted flights include: the first-ever free-flight
demonstration of an airframe-integrated scramjet; the verification of
wind-tunnel tests, computational predictions, and analyses of the technology;
and ultimately, the scaling of the design concepts to future operational
air-breathing hypersonic cruise and space-access vehicles. This effort is
challenging
because of the limitations on testing in ground facilities and the
inherent uncertainties associated with computational methods. Full-scale
testing requires flight research.
X-43A Project Home Page
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