Mach 6 Test Aircraft Set For Trials

coondoggie writes "The aspiration that jets may someday fly at over six times the speed of sound took a very real step toward reality recently, as the US Air Force said it successfully married the test aircraft, known as the X-51A WaveRider, to a B-52 in preparation for a Dec. 2 flight test. The X-51A flight tests are intended to demonstrate that the engines can achieve their desired speed without disintegrating. While the X-51 looks like a large rocket now, its applications could change the way aircraft or spaceships are designed, fly into space, support reconnaissance missions and handle long-distance flight operations. At the heart of the test is the aircraft's air-breathing hypersonic scramjet system."

Comments

How to tell that a user is an IDIOT

[Anonymous Coward]

A new version of the software they use with small interface changes requires RETRAINING COSTS. Instead of requiring the user to spend about five minutes poking around the new interface to learn what the difference is between it and the old interface. That's because smart people actually understand what they are doing, while idiots just memorize a series of steps to create the appearance that they understand anything. Oh yeah, first post.