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X-43A Hits Mach 7
quiggy writes "As previously reported, NASA tested the X-43A yesterday. The results are in, and the scramjet hit Mach 7, setting a new speed record. CNN is also reporting the story, with a note that a similar jet could be tested by the end of the year, hopefully reaching Mach 10."
I've always been under the impression that escape velocity is if a projectile was fired at ground level, and has no boosting at any later point. Space rockets are continiously accelerated upwards, and thus dont need to reach such speeds.
when will we see warp engines? Shortly after someone proves that its not impossible I guess.
Turns out oxygen is heavy, and kind of a pain in the ass to package anyway. It's much more convienent if you can just use the oxygen that's laying about, which is significantly more difficult that it sounds when you're traveling at hypersonic speeds.
Damn gravity.
http://www.mech.uq.edu.au/hyper/hyshot/:
9 :
As the spent motor and its attached payload falls back to Earth, they gather speed, and the trajectory is designed so that between 35km and 23km, they are travelling at Mach 7.6
http://www.uq.edu.au/news/index.phtml?article=346
The recent HyShot(TM) launch was designed to take the scramjet engine to a speed of Mach 7.6 (or more than seven times the speed of sound) for the experiment, using a Terrier Orion rocket. The rocket and payload reached an altitude of 314km before the rocket was configured to fly in a new trajectory pointing the payload back down to earth.
HyShot was simply free-falling to earth in order to reach Mach 7.6 so the engine could be ignited. It achieved that speed regardless of whether or not the scramjet fired. The X-43 was flying horizontally, and was actually powered by the scramjet engine during a controlled flight.
So there is a difference between what was accomplished. The distinction is that HyShot achieved combustion, while the X-43 was the first scramjet powered craft to be flown.
Dan East
Better known as 318230.