[quote]LOS ANGELES (AP) -- An unmanned experimental aircraft failed during an attempt to fly at six times the speed of sound in the latest setback for hypersonic flight.
The X-51A Waverider was designed to reach Mach 6, or 3,600 mph, after being dropped by a B-52 bomber off the Southern California coast on Tuesday. Engineers hoped it would sustain its top speed for five minutes, twice as long as an X-51A has gone before.
But the Air Force said Wednesday that a faulty control fin prevented it from starting its exotic scramjet engine and it was lost.
"It is unfortunate that a problem with this subsystem caused a termination before we could light the scramjet engine," Charlie Brink of the Air Force Research Laboratory at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, said in a statement.
The Waverider successfully detached from the B-52 and fired the rocket booster as planned. Then its scramjet engine was supposed to take over as it attempted to climb to Mach 6. But that never happened. Fifteen seconds after separating from the rocket booster, the Waverider lost control, preventing a test of the scramjet engine.
"All our data showed we had created the right conditions for engine ignition and we were very hopeful to meet our test objectives," Brink said.
The Pentagon has been testing hypersonic technologies in hopes of delivering strikes around the globe within minutes.
It was the latest failure for the Waverider program. A test flight last year ended prematurely with an X-15A trying to restart its engine until it plunged into the Pacific Ocean.
During the first flight of an X-51A in 2010, it reached near five times the speed of sound for three minutes.
There's only one X-51A vehicle left. The Air Force has not decided whether it will fly.[/quote]
[url=http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_X_51_HYPERSONIC_FLIGHT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT]Source[/url]
Well, there's always next time.
Well, you know what they say about failure.
It's fucking expensive.
and Kim Jong Un sighed a sigh of relief.
While Israel got pissed.
[QUOTE=Reader;37254266]What's point of it?[/QUOTE]
Going fast.
Because going fast fucking rules.
Alternatively, it's a way to test for new ways for quicker travel.
[QUOTE=Reader;37254266]What's point of it?[/QUOTE]
[quote]
The Pentagon has been testing hypersonic technologies in hopes of delivering strikes around the globe within minutes
[/quote]
plus it would be too fast to be shot down probably, S-400 only goes Mach 5
[QUOTE=Reader;37254266]What's point of it?[/QUOTE]
Hypersonic flight has multiple uses. Sadly, the most prominent one is obviously for weaponry.
What I find more hopeful is aircraft capable of getting to orbit.
[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;37254300]Hypersonic flight has multiple uses. Sadly, the most prominent one is obviously for weaponry.
What I find more hopeful is aircraft capable of getting to orbit.[/QUOTE]
see, my point in that other thread about weapons technology pushing the limits of engineering? yeah.
I like the concept of a space plane, but it would have to carry a secondary rocket engine for use in space, since scramjets only work in an oxygen environment. I'm not sure how they perform in low-oxygen.
[QUOTE=Dacheet;37254285]Going fast.
Because going fast fucking rules.
Alternatively, it's a way to test for new ways for quicker travel.[/QUOTE]
also will lead to hypersonic cruise missles, and with higher speeds comes higher energy imparted when it stops very suddenly, go fast enough and you could have the destructive power of a small nuke with a conventional weapon
This is what they get for sending a machine to do Chuck Yeager's job. :v:
[QUOTE=trotskygrad;37254415]see, my point in that other thread about weapons technology pushing the limits of engineering? yeah.
I like the concept of a space plane, but it would have to carry a secondary rocket engine for use in space, since scramjets only work in an oxygen environment. I'm not sure how they perform in low-oxygen.[/QUOTE]
Maybe for emergency abortion, but the idea isn't to get into a stable orbit, just hurl the plane out of the atmosphere and then allow it to fall back down to land at your destination.
In this way you get to go really really fast around the world without the atmosphere to slow you down and force you to run the engines the whole trip.
[QUOTE=Reader;37254266]What's point of it?[/QUOTE]
Scramjet engines are awesome, they have potential to reach at least 12-14 mach, possibly even twice that. They are also much more efficient because they have no moving parts and air never slows down under 1 mach.
If someone doesn't know, scramjets are like regular jet engines except there is no compressor turbine. The jet must be travelling so fast that the compression happens simply by moving forward.
[IMG]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Scramjet_operation.png[/IMG]
this is obviously a sign that man was never meant to fly
[editline]15th August 2012[/editline]
[QUOTE=Reader;37254266]What's point of it?[/QUOTE]
well the primary reason is to bomb people better
[QUOTE=trotskygrad;37254298]plus it would be too fast to be shot down probably, S-400 only goes Mach 5[/QUOTE]
The SR-71 could already do that. If the pilot detected a SAM launch they would just fly the fuck away
Couldn't they attach a parachute to it so they don't lose the whole thing?
[QUOTE=Number-41;37256250]Couldn't they attach a parachute to it so they don't lose the whole thing?[/QUOTE]
That adds weight and drag. Two things they dont need while flying Mach 6
[QUOTE=smurfy;37255758]The SR-71 could already do that. If the pilot detected a SAM launch they would just fly the fuck away[/QUOTE]
They still couldn't flat outrun a SAM, though. They were able to evade them just fine because, in the time it takes for the missile to be locked on, launched, and get up to full speed, the jet was already out of it's fuel range, but it was still capable of matching speeds with an SR-71.
Still an astonishingly fast aircraft though. They never declassified it's top speed...my best guess? Mach 4.5.
X-51 series has been quite the parade of costly failures it seems
[QUOTE=smeismastger;37257058]X-51 series has been quite the parade of costly failures it seems[/QUOTE]
It seems to me that we don't have much of an idea about how the stabilization equipment will react at such high speeds.
This thing is sexy as fuck
[img]http://www.popularmechanics.com/cm/popularmechanics/images/DK/0107global_main-md.jpg[/img]
[QUOTE=trotskygrad;37254298]plus it would be too fast to be shot down probably, S-400 only goes Mach 5[/QUOTE]
The long range S-400 goes Mach 12.
[QUOTE=zombini;37264731]The long range S-400 goes Mach 12.[/QUOTE]
Theoretically or was it tested? Cause that's really fucking fast.
[quote]
There's only one X-51A vehicle left. The Air Force has not decided whether it will fly.[/quote]
Hehe, judging by the last two tests, I think physics has already decided that one.
[QUOTE=GunFox;37265296]Hehe, judging by the last two tests, I think physics has already decided that one.[/QUOTE]
Oh but it will fly.
Probably apart, tho.
gotta go fast
[QUOTE=adam1172;37265094]Theoretically or was it tested? Cause that's really fucking fast.[/QUOTE]
it's "expected" in 2012
the 40N6 missile hasn't been delivered yet afaik
I don't understand why they want to go that fast THROUGH the athmosphere, why not go above the athmosphere, as in a suborbital flight? It should consume less fuel to get there, and would also be faster.
[QUOTE=LadeLuke;37267270]I don't understand why they want to go that fast THROUGH the athmosphere, why not go above the athmosphere, as in a suborbital flight? It should consume less fuel to get there, and would also be faster.[/QUOTE]
Because that would require you to achieve enormous speed while still in atmosphere (that's what this is actually attempting), or you would need engine independent on air - requires much more weight to be fuel.
I remember somebody (I really can't remember who he was) going out on a limb and saying that scramjets will never have any use other than missiles.
He said that he'd love to be proven wrong, but that with what we currently have and currently know, you'd never be able to make something big enough and strong enough to hold people that can accelerate enough to turn the engines on, survive hypersonic speeds, be controllable and have enough fuel on board to be worthwhile.
As far as he knew at the time, there are a great number of obstacles and we don't even know if it's possible to overcome them while staying within the laws of physics.
I'm searching around, but I can't find where I read it.
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