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Captive Carry Test Prepares For Next X-43A / Hyper-X Flight

An X-43A stacked on a B-52 mothership
Edwards CA (SPX) Sep 03, 2004
Only days after Guinness World Records certified the prior flight of NASA's X-43A hypersonic technology demonstrator aircraft as a world speed record, a full-scale dress rehearsal for the last and even faster flight of the small unpiloted research aircraft is tentatively scheduled to occur on Tuesday, Sept. 7 from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center.

The dress rehearsal, officially called a "captive carry" mission, will involve a full-up replication of all operational functions that will occur on the actual research flight later this fall.

In this captive carry mission, however, the X-43A and its modified first-stage Pegasus launch rocket will not be launched from NASA's B-52B mother ship.

The X-43A is powered by a revolutionary supersonic-combustion ramjet or "scramjet" engine integrated into the airframe.

During its flight last March, the second X-43A maintained a speed of at least Mach 6.83, or almost seven times the speed of sound. For the final flight, the third vehicle is tentatively targeted to reach and maintain a speed of about Mach 10, or close to 7,200 mph.

Pending thorough evaluation of all captive-carry flight data, the test could lead to launch of the X-43A on its final flight in the Hyper-X hypersonic research program in late October.

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Guinness World Records Certifies NASA's Aircraft Speed Record
Edwards CA (SPX) Aug 31, 2004
NASA's X-43A is already headed for the record books, but Guinness World Records officials had better be prepared for an update. In October, NASA hopes to bump its recently set world speed record for a jet-powered aircraft from Mach 7 to Mach 10. Mach 10 is ten times the speed of sound, or approximately 7,200 mph.



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