NASA Tests X-43A

An anonymous reader writes "NASA TV has live coverage of the launch of the X-43A scram jet flight. Hopes are that the unmanned vehicle will reach speeds in excess of mach 7-10. The last flight a few years ago failed." Stephen Watts sends this link for X-43A background information.

Comments

Nooooooooo!!!

[pwroberts]

Noooo, don't Slashdot it, you insensitive clods!

I was getting a great feed of the boring pre-launch stuff for the last 2 hours, now y'all'll've gone and ruined it ;-(

Speed doesn't matter

[elFarto the 2nd]

Even if its moving at mach 7...we can still slashdot it!

Regards
elFarto

$185 million dollar project...

[levram2]

...and they can't show a readable countdown timer on the screen.

Amusing terminology

[RedDirt]

I had to laugh out-loud when one of the NASA folks (S2?) referred to the B52 as a BUFF. (Air Force jargon: Big Ugly Fat Fscker ...)

Still chuckling a bit. =)

Re:Not that fast

[Drathus]

> Mach 5 is kinda meh. X15-A2 did mach 6.8 with pilot, in the 1960's

Yes, it did. However the scram jet is a significant improvement just in terms of fuel savings. Not having to carry the oxygen itself and having the system work means more then the final speed it reached.

Re:Not that fast

[Moofie]

You are wrong.

A supersonic combusting ramjet is way way way incredibly more technically challenging than a regular ramjet.

Managing the shock wave systems to provide adequate fuel mixing and ignition is only barely possible today with the biggest computer simulations on the planet.

I don't know what you consider "revolutionary", but sustained supersonic combustion is a Really Big Deal.