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The
X-43A hits Mach 10 off the US coast. |
AN
EXPERIMENTAL scramjet capable of Mach 10 – 10 times the
speed of sound, or some 11,000km/h – is to be tested over
Australia.
The trial, to be held at Woomera in late 2005, is a joint venture
between the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO)
and the US Department of Defense.
The trials follow the successful flight of another scramjet, the
X-43A, which achieved Mach 9.8 in a recent flight off the coast
of California in the US.
The unmanned, 3.65m-long aircraft and its Pegasus booster rocket
were launched from a B-52 bomber operated by NASA.
The rocket propelled the X-43A to an altitude of 33,000m before
the aircraft detached itself and its own engine cut in for a 10-second
powered flight. The aircraft then glided to a splashdown into
the Pacific Ocean.
This was the third and final of a series of flights under NASA’s
Hyper-X program.
In July 2002 Australian work received worldwide recognition with
the University of Queensland’s world-first successful HyShot
II flight where scramjet engine combustion was demonstrated at
Mach 7.8 in atmospheric free flight.
Dr Noel Martin, Research Leader in DSTO’s Emerging Weapons
Technology, Weapons Systems Division, said next year’s tests
at Woomera were part of a program called HYCAUSE, an acronym for
the Hypersonics Collaboration between Australia and US Experiment.
The program involves the research, design, testing and manufacture
of all components involved in preparation for flight-testing a
scramjet engine. It will use a similar flight profile to HyShot
II, but at Mach 10.
NASA’s Hyper-X program was more about developing a vehicle,
but the HYCAUSE program will investigate and demonstrate high-risk
and high-payoff leading-edge engine technology.
