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NASA's hypersonic plane set a speed record

16.03.2023

The United States has long been a leader in the development of the fastest aircraft. In the late 1990s, the NASA X-43 was developed as part of the Hyper-X program. As part of the space agency's "better, faster, cheaper" program, Hyper-X used National Aerospace Plane technology.

The purpose of the Hyper-X project was to test the key power plants and related technologies of hypersonic aircraft in flight. The first two X-43 test machines were designed to fly at a speed of Mach 7, which is the highest speed for a jet aircraft. At that time, the third X-43 was able to reach a speed of Mach 9,6.

To understand the significance of this achievement, the highest speed achieved by the NASA X-15 rocket plane during flight tests in the late 1960s was Mach 6,7.

The test aircraft X-43A was an unmanned vehicle, 3,7 meters long. Ego's unique lifting body design provided significant lift for flight instead of relying on the wings. The weight of the plane was about 1400 kg.

In addition, this test aircraft was designed in such a way that it could be fully controlled in high-speed flight, even if the engine was turned off. However, the plane was not intended for landing and recovery. After completing the test flight, it fell into the Pacific Ocean.

Testing of the X-43A began in 2001, but the first flight ended in failure when the Pegasus booster lost control 13 seconds after separation from the B-52 mother ship. However, a second attempt in 2004 was successful and the aircraft reached Mach 6,83 (7456 km/h). The third prototype, which took off on November 16, 2004, set a speed record of Mach 9,64 (10240,26 km/h) at an altitude of about 33 meters.

In the original concept of the X-43 program, the creation of two additional machines was assumed. The X-43B was supposed to be used to demonstrate an engine capable of operating in several modes. The X-43B engine was supposed to work as a conventional turbojet engine at low altitudes and switch to the GPRD mode at high altitudes and speeds.

Flights of the X-43B were scheduled for 2009 after testing of another Hyper-X machine, the X-43C, which was supposed to demonstrate the operation of a scramjet on solid carbon fuel at speeds from Mach 5 to Mach 7, was completed. However, the flights were canceled in March 2004 due to a change in NASA strategy following the announcement of the "Presidential Vision for Space Exploration" in January of that year. Although funding for the X-43C continued under NASA's 2005 budget, the program was soon put on hold. However, tests of the hypersonic aircraft continued under the X-51 program, which began in 2005 and first flew in 2010.

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