Unlike well-understood ordinary ramjets, which slow the air passing through them to subsonic speeds, the X-51 is intended to maintain combustion in a supersonic internal airflow — hence the name scramjet, for supersonic combustion ramjet — a feat often likened to “striking a match in a hurricane”. [The Register<\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote> <\/span>Since it needs moving air to fire, a ramjet can’t start from a standstill. Yesterday, a NASA-operated B-52 Stratofortress took the unmanned jet under its wing and dropped it at about 50,000 feet. Then a solid rocket booster accelerated the X-51 to about Mach 4.5. Then, on its own power, the scramjet climbed 20,000 feet, accelerated to Mach 5, and burned it engine for a total flight time of about 200 seconds.<\/p> “We are ecstatic to have accomplished most of our test points on the X-51A’s very first hypersonic mission,” said Charlie Brink, a X-51A program manager with the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. “We equate this leap in engine technology as equivalent to the post-World War II jump from propeller-driven aircraft to jet engines.” [U.S. Air Force<\/a>]<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote> NASA’s <\/span>X-43A scramjet still holds the record for fastest jet engine flight, achieving about a 12 second run at Mach 9.6 in 2004. But the X-43A used hydrogen, which would require huge tanks if the jet found commercial use. The X-51A does not have this liability; it uses an easier-to-carry hydrocarbon fuel.<\/p> Joe Vogel, Boeing’s director of hypersonics, said, “This is a new world record and sets the foundation for several hypersonic applications, including access to space, reconnaissance, strike, global reach and commercial transportation.” [Washington Post<\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote> Related content: Yesterday morning, about 70,000 feet over the Pacific Ocean, the Boeing-designed X-51A Waverider “scramjet” set a new record. Reaching Mach 5 (almost 4,000 miles per hour), it wasn’t the fastest jet flight, but by burning for over 200 seconds it … Continue reading
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