Comments on: 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.

By: Chris Kirkendall

Chris Kirkendall — Fri, 03 May 2013 18:47:45 +0000

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…

By: Robert Zimmerman

Robert Zimmerman — Fri, 03 May 2013 06:04:47 +0000

In reply to Blair Ivey. 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.

By: Kelly Starks

Kelly Starks — Fri, 03 May 2013 03:42:46 +0000

Very very cool.
;)

By: Blair Ivey

Blair Ivey — Fri, 03 May 2013 00:51:10 +0000

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.