On June 2, 2001,
NASA's first
scramjet test was
aborted after a serious failure of the rocket booster intended to bring the
craft up to speed. According to NASA, the
rocket went wildly off-course, forcing them to
detonate on-board explosives to stop it.
The
X-43A test craft was attached to the
booster and lifted to a safe distance by a
B-52 bomber. The booster and jet were then detached, at which time the rocket was
ignited to lift the X-43A to
100,000 feet before turning the scramjet on. Had the booster not failed, the X-43A would have been
active for 10 seconds, covering
17 miles at a burst of over
Mach 7, or 5,000
miles per hour before being coasted to a stop on the water below.
July 30th, 2002A team of
University of Queensland researchers successfully launched a
scramjet engine in the
Australian desert today. It worked as intended during flight, then
destroyed itself in the planned crash to the ground. It'll be a few days before they can say for sure whether or not it was fully functional.
March 27, 2004
NASA's
X-43 hypersonic scramjet vehicle flew successfully today. It was raised to 95,000 feet, then released from its carrier for
acceleration. The X-43 flew under its own power for 10
seconds, reaching a top speed of
Mach 7. It then glided for several minutes to gather
aerodynamic data.
November 16, 2004
The X-43
A set a new speed record today, when it reached 7,000
miles per hour. This is Mach 9.6, or almost ten times the
speed of sound. It is the fastest speed ever recorded inside the Earth's
atmosphere.