|
||
|
|
27th May 2010, 18:53 | #1 |
*
Rover 75 FaceLift Tourer CDTi 170BHP Auto ConnSE 2005 Model Starlight Silver Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Abergele
Posts: 28,735
Thanks: 0
Thanked 6 Times in 5 Posts
|
New Air Speed Record
Test jet sets new air speed record
An experimental aircraft has set a record for hypersonic flight, flying more than three minutes at six times the speed of sound. The X-51A Waverider was released from a US Air Force B-52 Stratofortress off California on Wednesday. Its scramjet engine accelerated it to Mach 6, and it flew under its own power for 200 seconds before losing acceleration. At that point the test was ended. The Air Force said the previous record for a hypersonic scramjet burn was 12 seconds. Unlike ordinary ramjets, which use air passing through at subsonic speeds to operate, the X-51 uses a supersonic internal airflow - giving rise to the name scramjet, short for supersonic combustion ramjet. "We are ecstatic to have accomplished many of the X-51A test points during its first hypersonic mission," said an Air Force Research Lab spokesman. "We equate this leap in engine technology as equivalent to the post-World War II jump from propeller-driven aircraft to jet engines." The Waverider was built by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne and Boeing. 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." Four X-51A cruisers have been built for the Air Force, and the remaining three will be tested this autumn. |
27th May 2010, 18:56 | #2 |
Banned
75 CDT Connoisseur SE Auto Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Wolverhampton
Posts: 8,450
Thanks: 0
Thanked 3 Times in 3 Posts
|
I wouldn't mind looking into the aerodynamics of that
|
27th May 2010, 19:00 | #3 |
I really should get out more.......
75 tourer cdti, MG ZS 180, nissan terrano & 1.8t rover 25 Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Pontefract
Posts: 2,644
Thanks: 17
Thanked 295 Times in 218 Posts
|
anyone thinking what im thinking?
rover + scramjet = truely remarkable feat of engineering however |
27th May 2010, 19:21 | #4 |
This is my second home
ZT 260 SE Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Ashington, West Sussex
Posts: 3,512
Thanks: 2
Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post
|
Should cut the commute to the US down by a few mins
__________________
I've learned that no matter how serious your life requires you to be, everyone needs a friend to act goofy with. |
28th May 2010, 11:13 | #5 |
I really should get out more.......
Rover 75 Tourer CDT CLUB SE Copper Red Mica Dec 01 ....now deceased....replaced by2003 Royal Blue T Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: North Warnborough, Hampshire
Posts: 2,398
Thanks: 9
Thanked 69 Times in 20 Posts
|
Nice one John.........interesting to see they have called it an x51a.....great plane the x15!
__________________
01 75 CDT Club SE Tourer..."The Rover 75 is a British-built car to be proud of." B.M.Ws loss........OUR GAIN!!!!!!!! http://knowledgerush.com/wiki_image/...arp.300pix.jpghttp://farm1.static.flickr.com/167/3...b847e1c5_m.jpg |
|
|