Military to test hypersonic jet that could zip across the U.S. in less than 1 hour.
A one-hour flight from L.A. to N.Y.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/military-test-hypersonic-jet-could-zip-across-u-181638605.html
A superfast jet that could fly from L.A. to New York City in less than an hour may be one step closer to reality after a key test this week.
The X-51A WaveRider, an unmanned aircraft that could reach speeds up to Mach 6 will be launched from the wing of a B-52 bomber high above the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The WaveRider is expected to zip up into the atmosphere and fly at hypersonic speeds—3,600 mph—for 300 seconds, before breaking up into the ocean.
If successful, if would be the longest jaunt for the test aircraft. The newspaper noted that the development of WaveRider could lead to progress on a passenger jet that could theoretically travel across the U.S. in 46 minutes.
"Attaining sustained hypersonic flight is like going from propeller-driven aircraft to jet aircraft," Robert A. Mercier, deputy for technology in the high speed systems division at the Air Force Research Laboratory in Ohio told the L.A. Times.
But beyond passenger flights, achieving hypersonic speeds could also lead to the development of the next generation of missiles, space vehicles and military aircraft, the Times points out.
The WaveRider program had an issue in June of 2011 when the test vehicle in a similar test to the one planned for Tuesday failed to reach full power.
The Pentagon said it spent about $2 billion on technology and engineering around hypersonic flight over the last decade, the Times reports. This program is estimated to cost $140 million, according to Globalsecurity.org, a military policy research website.
If you're keeping score, the Concorde, a supersonic airliner, crossed the Atlantic at 1,350 mph.
It would take about 3.5 hours, about twice as fast as current commercial airlines. The Concorde was retired in 2003.
Thats not a jet :D Thats a rocket with chicken wings haha.
wow.. the concord revisited
and that's really cool..but the have to do something with tsa first or it may take all day
not so good news
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Hypersonic craft lost during test
By Alan Boyle
The U.S. Air Force says its most ambitious test of its X-51 WaveRider hypersonic aircraft ended in failure less than a minute after launch on Tuesday, due to a flaw in one of the craft's control fins. The X-51 broke apart after it was dropped from a B-52 bomber, with pieces falling into the Pacific Ocean, a spokesman for the project told me today.
If the test had proceeded as planned, the Boeing-built X-51 would have shot through the sky for a five-minute flight at a speed of up to 3,600 mph (5,800 kilometers per hour), or six times the speed of sound. Instead, the Air Force is going back to the drawing board.
Hypersonic scramjet propulsion has been widely touted as eventually opening up the way for flights between London and New York in less than an hour. But in reality, the first application is more likely to come in the form of super-fast cruise missiles. (Scramjet is a short term for "supersonic combustion ramjet," and there have been many efforts through the years to perfect scramjet-powered aircraft.)
In a statement, the Air Force said the unmanned craft was successfully launched from the B-52 over Point Mugu Naval Air Warfare Center Sea Range, in the Pacific near California's coast, at about 11:36 a.m. PT (2:36 p.m. ET) on Tuesday. The X-51's rocket booster fired as planned — but 16 seconds later, a fault was identified with the cruiser control fin, the Air Force said. When the X-51 separated from the booster, about 15 seconds later, the cruiser couldn't maintain control and was lost.
"'Came apart' is the term that they used," said Daryl Mayer, a spokesman for the Air Force's 88th Air Base Wing at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.
The WaveRider never had a chance to reach supersonic speed.
"It is unfortunate that a problem with this subsystem caused a termination before we could light the scramjet engine," Charlie Brink, X-51A program manager for the Air Force Research Laboratory, said in today's statement. "All our data showed we had created the right conditions for engine ignition, and we were very hopeful to meet our test objectives."
said the control system had proven reliable during the X-51A's two previous flights — including a successful test in May 2010 and a not-so-successful test in June 2011.
Today's statement said program officials will conduct a "rigorous evaluation" of this week's test to assess all the factors behind the failure. One of the four X-51A vehicles remains, but officials have not decided when or if that vehicle will fly, the Air Force said. The X-51 project's cost has been estimated at $140 million.
More about supersonic flight: at link below
•Video: What the X-51 was designed to do
•Futuristic space plane closer to reality
•Supersonic biplane puts an end to sonic booms
•Supersonic drone set to fly in 2013, if ...
http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/15/13299701-hypersonic-craft-lost-during-test?lite