After four tries the Air Force X-51A Waverider test craft finally succeeded in achieving sustained, scramjet-powered, air-breathing hypersonic flight above Mach 5 in its final test flight on May 1.
After four tries the Air Force X-51A Waverider test craft finally succeeded in achieving sustained, scramjet-powered, air-breathing hypersonic flight above Mach 5 in its final test flight on May 1.
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After four tries the Air Force X-51A Waverider test craft finally succeeded in achieving sustained, scramjet-powered, air-breathing hypersonic flight above Mach 5 in its final test flight on May 1.
In order to remain completely independent and honest in my writing, I accept no sponsorships from big space companies or any political organizations. Nor do I depend on ads.
Instead, I rely entirely on the generosity of readers to keep Behind the Black running. You can either make a one time donation for whatever amount you wish, or you sign up for a monthly subscription ranging from $2 to $15 through Paypal, or $3 to $50 through Patreon, or any amount through Zelle.
The best method to donate or subscribe is by using Zelle through your internet bank account, since it charges no fees to you or I. You will need to give my name and email address (found at the bottom of the "About" page). What you donate is what I get.
To use Patreon, go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
For PayPal click one of the following buttons:
If these electronic payment methods don't work for you, you can support Behind The Black directly by sending your donation by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman, to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
From the article, it appears the test program did what test programs are supposed to do: identify problems and fix them. The fact that there was a different failure each time suggests that the basic concept and machine are sound, as the fixes amounted to tweaks of the original design. If the Air Force achieved five minutes of sustained hypersonic flight, that’s a landmark achievement. The rest, as they say, is just engineering.
Very very cool.
;)
You are absolutely correct. I didn’t meant to suggest that the previous failures should somehow reflect badly on the engineering. These are test flights, so failures are simply part of the test.
I assume this is mostly under development as an unmanned weapons system of some sort, but hasn’t there been talk of scramjets being used for human flights of some type (either civilian or military) ? I seem to remember something about that…