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Edwards AFB - Feb 04, 2004 Hitching a ride on the same B-52 mother ship that once launched X-15 research aircraft in the 1960s, NASA's X-43A scramjet performed a captive carry evaluation flight from Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., January 26. The X-43 remained mated to the B-52 throughout this mission, intended to check its readiness for launch as early as February 21. NASA's experimental X-43A hypersonic research vehicle, securely mounted to the B-52 mother ship that will launch it, took off from Edwards Air Force Base at 3:21p.m. Pacific Standard Time Monday, Jan. 26, 2004 for a captive-carry sortie scheduled for two and a half hours during which the experimental craft remained attached to the B-52. Monday's captive carry flight was conducted to allow X-43 engineers and technicians to test the X-43's systems at speeds and altitudes it will encounter on launch day. Analysis of data recorded during this dress rehearsal will enable the X-43 team to make the decision to launch the X-43 as early as February 21. The upcoming X-43 launch is planned to attain Mach 7 ¿ seven times the speed of sound ¿ by using a Pegasus booster rocket to accelerate the X-43, which then relies on its own supersonic combustion ramjet, or scramjet engine to combine fuel with ambient air for combustion at that speed. Central to the X-43 program is its scramjet engine, blended to the vehicle's flattened airframe. The promise of scramjet propulsion technology is the ability to save weight and valuable onboard space by scooping oxygen from the atmosphere at high altitudes instead of carrying oxygen in tanks as conventional rocket motors must. The X-43 is considered hypersonic, using the term for flight at or above five times the speed of sound. The first X-43 vehicle and its Pegasus booster were lost shortly after release from the B-52 over a restricted Navy Pacific Ocean range on June 2, 2001, when the combined vehicles deviated from the flight path and were deliberately destroyed. Since that time, the X-43 team has made a number of changes intended to reduce the possibility of loss of another X-43, although by its very nature, the launch of the experimental X-43 is risky. Related Links Dryden X-43 Pix Library SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express
Northrop Grumman Software Tools To Help Design USAF Upper-Stage Engine
Redondo Beach - Jan 27, 2004Northrop Grumman has won a contract to develop the critical first step for a new upper-stage rocket engine designed to eventually succeed the RL-10 that has helped lift spacecraft into orbit for nearly 40 years.
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