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(Image source: U.S. Airforce/Mike Cassidy)
BY BEKAH RIGBY
The U.S. military's experimental aircraft, X-51A WaveRider missile, reached speeds of
over five times the speed of sound during its test flight Wednesday. Researchers say
if a standard plane traveled that fast it would get from California to New York in one
hour.
During the test flight, the unmanned WaverRider was attached under the wing of a B-52 bomber
that took off from Edwards Air Force Base in California before being released over the
Pacific Ocean at 50,000 feet.
According to the Los Angeles Times, during its test run the missile exceeded speeds of
3,000 miles per hour and stayed in the air for 264 miles before dropping into the ocean
as planned.
With the help of a booster it took only 26 seconds for the X-51A to reach Mach 4.8 — almost
five times the speed of sound. The booster then dropped off and the engine kicked in
allowing the missile to hit its record setting speed.
(via U.S. Air Force)
This flight was the last of four test flights for the WaveRider when the $300 million program
began in 2004. Two of the previous tests failed. It isn't the speed of the aircraft that impresses,
though, considering NASA's X-15 manned jet that flew over Mach 6 back in the 1960s.
The new technology of the scramjet engine and use of non-hydrogen fuel at such high
speeds is what is unique among aircrafts of the WaveRider's kind. Because of the prior
failures, this successful test flight gives life to experimental hypersonic technology.
(via The Huffington Post)
The X-51 was given the name WaveRider because it stays in the air by literally riding on
its own shockwaves.
The technology behind WaveRider works by compressing air from the WaveRider's own forward motion.
The aircraft stayed up for a total of six minutes, three and a half of those minutes
using the experimental scramjet engine.
The X-51 program originated as a collaboration between Boeing and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne
back in 2004 for the U.S. military. The goal of the program was to create free-flying hypersonic
vehicle able to stay in the air longer than any other previous aircrafts of its kind.
Charlie Brink, X-51 project manager, called the test mission a full success despite the
original goal for the WaveRider to reach Mach 6.
"I believe all we have learned from the X-51A Waverider will serve as the bedrock for future
hypersonics research and ultimately the practical application of hypersonic flight"
There is no immediate successor to the X-51 program, but the Air Force plans to continue
hypersonic research.