|
20
years from now...
Imagine
taking off from any U.S. airport and landing on any other runway in the
world in less than two hours. Or making a quick hop from that same
airport to the International Space Station and back - a trip that
normally takes days or weeks - to drop off science experiments,
provisions and new equipment.
Sound
far-fetched?
Not
anymore. Technology now being developed by NASA and its partners could -
within two decades - achieve such rapid trip times, yielding limitless
possibilities for international travel, commerce and access to space.
Mock-up
of the X-43b the third and largest of the hypersonic demonstrators
And
this week, they're going public with the hypersonic shape of things to
come.
Mockups
of NASA's proposed "Hyper-X" series are now making the rounds
to larger airshows around the country. These technology demonstrators,
intended for flight testing by decade's end, are expected to yield a new
generation of vehicles that routinely fly about 100,000 feet above
Earth's surface and reach sustained travel speeds in excess of Mach 5,
or about 3,750 mph - the point at which "supersonic" flight
becomes "hypersonic" flight.
It
also may be the point at which traditional air transportation becomes as
outmoded as the covered wagon.
the
X-43c, scheduled for flight testing in 2008
Despite
the astounding paradigm shift it promises for suborbital and orbital
flight, the concept of hypersonic flight is not a new one. NASA's
hypersonics program is built on research dating back to the 1950s.
But
the new effort - leveraging technology resources and manufacturing
capabilities unavailable 30 years ago - is intended to yield practical
results before mid-century: a future fleet of government and commercial
hypersonic vehicles, traveling between dozens or even hundreds of "skyports"
around the world. And beyond it.
NASA's
series of hypersonic flight demonstrators includes three air-breathing
vehicles: the X-43A, X-43B and X-43C.
The
X-43A, an unpiloted research craft mounted atop a modified Pegasus
booster rocket, was first flown in June 2001. During the flight, an
in-flight incident forced the mission to be aborted. NASA has planned
three X-43A flights; two more X-43A flight demonstrators, built in early
2002, are being prepared for flight testing at NASA's Dryden Flight
Research Center in Edwards, Calif. Fueled by hydrogen, the X-43A is
intended to achieve Mach 7 and possibly Mach 10, or speeds of
approximately 5,000 and 7,500 mph, respectively.
The
X-43C demonstrator, powered by a scramjet engine developed by the U.S.
Air Force, is now in development. The X-43C is expected to accelerate
from Mach 5 to Mach 7, reaching a maximum potential speed of about 5,000
mph. NASA will begin flight-testing the X-43C in 2008.
X-43A
in wind tunnel tests... this picture was taken with wind speeds of Mach
7...
------
Well,
that makes for good PR from NASA, but if you'll remember, last summer
and last fall tests of the Scramjet failed miserably... the one in June
was not explained, although the official line is that the rocket
failed......
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/x43a_update_011126.html
http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/auspac/10/30/australia.scramjet/
|
