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NASA Testing Supersonic X-51A Jet Tomorrow

Posted by Unknown on from the but-does-it-go-to-plaid? dept.

First time accepted submitter littlesparkvt writes "The NASA and the Pentagon's experimental aircraft could go from NY to London in about an hour. With a cost of 140 million dollars USD. During the test the X51-A will reach speeds of 1700 meters a second and climb to an altitude of 70,000 feet."

16 of 214 comments (clear)

  1. Cost by Hydrated+Wombat · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Still costs less than a F22 Raptor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-22_Raptor

    1. Re:Cost by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Still costs less than a F22 Raptor
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-22_Raptor

      That's probably because the F-22 is an operational aircraft capable of take-off/landing under its own power and houses a human pilot (among many other things).

    2. Re:Cost by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 4, Funny

      This isn't a jet-plane. It's a fucking missile.

      Okay. So it could blow up London in about an hour.

    3. Re:Cost by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      But it will still take NBC 6 hours to report it.

    4. Re:Cost by BadgerRush · · Score: 5, Informative

      No, they are crashing the f22's into the desert

    5. Re:Cost by jamstar7 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Sounds to me like they could use a few dozen Russian engineers.

      The way the Russkis used to do things was, design and build a prototype with all the bells and whistles and kitchen sink. Get it working. Then re-engineer it back to something a goat herder in Kazikstan could use with 5 minutes' training. Case in point? The MiG-23. They could crank them out for a cost of about 3.3 mil per, when the nearest Western equivilent was the Kfir C2 coming in at 4.5 mil and the F16 at 14. They used aircraft grade aluminum and stainless steel where Western aircraft were using titanium. They couldn't engage as many targets, but you could have 90%+ of them available to fly at a moment's notice where maintanance cycles grounded up to 2/3rds of the F16s at a time.

      --
      Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
    6. Re:Cost by SplashMyBandit · · Score: 5, Informative

      Correct. Turns out that the 'Raptor' problem is, in fact, related to incorrect inflation of the "Combat Edge" chest corset of G-suits. This incorrect inflation also occurred on F-15s and F-16s but no one noticed. Only on the F-22 was it noticed/significant.

      Just in case you think I'm full of shit, here's a citation quoting USAF sources:
      http://www.military.com/daily-news/2012/08/01/air-force-confident-f22-oxygen-riddle-solved.html

      With that (apparently 20-year old) problem solved, Raptor is back in the air and back to Top Dog.

  2. 1700 miles a *second* ??? by gaspar+ilom · · Score: 4, Interesting

    > 1700 miles a second

    This is obviously a mis-print, right?

    1. Re:1700 miles a *second* ??? by similar_name · · Score: 4, Funny

      Warp .01 sound way cooler.

    2. Re:1700 miles a *second* ??? by jbeaupre · · Score: 4, Funny

      Nope. It's correct. They are launching over the Pacific ocean. They expect it to disappear off the left side of the map and reappear on the right side of the map about 14 seconds later. 24,000 miles divided by 14 seconds gives you 1700 miles/sec.

      Maybe they should use a globe.

      --
      The world is made by those who show up for the job.
  3. Another article with more background... by daveschroeder · · Score: 4, Informative

    ...is here

  4. Re:1700 miles a second????? by Sparkio · · Score: 4, Informative

    Mach 5 = 1,701.45 m / s... still pretty crazy fast - LA to NY in ~42 minutes - but no, not LA to NY in 2 seconds. Methinks someone plugged it into google and thought 'hey, m must mean miles, right?'

  5. Re:1700 miles a second????? by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 4, Funny

    Mach 5 = 1,701.45 m / s

    Yup. m = miles, s = seconds. That's 1700 miles per second.

    I mean, what else could m possibly stand for? There's only one unit of measurement that starts with the letter 'm'...

  6. Re:1700 miles a second????? by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 5, Funny

    m is metre moron

    It's an American missile. Why would they be talking in weird foreign measurements? I mean, "metre"?! R before E? Who spells like that? Sounds like some kind of cheese-eatin' surrender-monkey socialist kind of measurement. Certainly not the kind of measurement that freedom lovin' people from the Good ol' USA would use.

    So there you have it. 1700 miles per second. That'll put the fear of God into those godless commies.

    (I was going to mark my original post as sarcasm but I thought, "Nah. People will get it.")

  7. Re:huray for proofreading by hargrand · · Score: 4, Funny

    Dad: Max, why does the word "wing" appear twice in this sentence?

    Max (6yrs old): Because the B-52 has two wings.

  8. It's not supersonic, it's hypersonic by Beryllium+Sphere(tm) · · Score: 5, Informative

    Above Mach 5 or so you have to start considering different physics about the air flow.