Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Second Hypersonic X43 Scramjet Ready for Testing

Posted by michael on from the stand-waaaaaay-back dept.

Dan writes "I am sure most of you remember how NASA was forced destroy their first hypersonic X43 seconds in it's maiden flight, which was a big setback for the american hypersonic scramjet program. Well NASA just finished one of the final tests and is preparing to launch it as early as February 21! I wish them the best."

6 of 434 comments (clear)

  1. Scramjet and space flight by erick99 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I have read many times, in many magazines, that scramjet technology is integral to getting something into space without the traditional rocket engine technology. This is a nice development in that direction. I hope the funding for this stays in place. Funny how some truly exciting developments in air/space don't get much mainstream exposure such as CNN, MSNBC, etc.

    Happy Trails,

    Erick

    --
    http://www.busyweather.com/
  2. Excellent by Saeed+al-Sahaf · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is great technology, but remember, it's not for *us*, it's for the military. Faster jets, bigger killing radius, when will this benefit freedom and peace?

    --
    "Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
    1. Re:Excellent by ImTwoSlick · · Score: 5, Insightful
      This is great technology, but remember, it's not for *us*, it's for the military. Faster jets, bigger killing radius, when will this benefit freedom and peace?

      Oh.... For a second I thought you were talking about airplanes, ships, computers, combustion engines, or encryption. You know, all those things benefiting you that were developed for the evil military.

      Don't forget. That freedom you enjoy wasn't given to you for nothing. Military people are the ones who earned it for you. That's why this new technology IS for us, freedom, and peace.

  3. Scramjets won't get you to space. by AJWM · · Score: 5, Insightful

    For the several earlier posters who seem to think that this is the Holy Grail of Earth-to-orbit transportation -- well, maybe they're right in that it's about equally unattainable. Rockets work a hell of a lot better - as has been demonstrated by almost 47 years of orbital flight.

    Any airbreathing technology suffers a couple of fundamental flaws when it comes to suborbital, let alone orbital, transport. Most obvious, the air is mighty thin up there -- so you've got to stay where the air is thicker to support combustion. (Which basically means you can't make orbit with out at least some kind of apogee kick rocket).

    Secondly, pushing through all that air creates drag. Now, you either aggravate the problem by slowing the relative airspeed enough to support combustion -- meaning increasing the drag on that air (supersonic combustion alleviates this somewhat), or you don't slow it down (relatively, actually you're speeding the air up), have a harder time maintaining combustion, and more significantly, have a much lower momentum delta in the exhaust -- meaning less push to the vehicle.

    Scramjets have some limited use for high speed short range flight but rockets are far more efficient and the only practical way to get to orbit.

    (And while I may not be a rocket scientist, I've had long talks about just this with some very expert rocket scientists, such as Max Hunter.)

    --
    -- Alastair
  4. maybe one day by plnrtrvlr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    this will be THE means to get to a station in Earth orbit, and from there, nuclear rockets out into the farther reaches of the solar system. I'd love to see colonies on Mars as much as the next geek, but until we get it through our heads that we need to have stepping stones along the way, we aren't going to be successful. It is simply too damn expensive to develop an entirely new system for every "space objective". We need a new way into Earth orbit... and a space station whose primary objective is to be a way station where deep space nuclear propulsion systems can launch for the rest of the solar system without contaminating the environment here on earth. Maybe someday materials science will make possible the space elevator (and it may be closer than I think, but until they're spinning line, I'm not counting on it....) but until then, we need a different solution beyond out brute force approach. This could be the technology that opens up just these sorts of possibilities.

  5. Less than half by fredmosby · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The liquid fueled rockets that nasa uses today use liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen in the reaction:

    2 H2 + O2 -> 2 H2O

    Which means that by mass modern rockets use about 8 times as much oxygen as they use hydrogen.