Prepare to accelerate!
If all goes as planned, the X-51A Waverider is to make its first hypersonic flight test attempt on May 25 off the southern coast of California.
Once released from a B-52 Stratofortress carrier plane, the unpiloted X-51A is expected to fly autonomously for five minutes, zooming up to 70,000 feet powered by a supersonic combustion scramjet engine.
That engine will give the craft the oomph to speed to about Mach 6 – six times the speed of sound — transmitting data to ground stations before breaking up after splashing down into the Pacific, as planned.
There are no plans to recover the flight test vehicle, one of four built.
Access to space
The X-51A program is a collaborative effort by representatives from the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, with industry partners The Boeing Company and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne.
The longest previous hypersonic scramjet flight test performed by a NASA X-43 in 2004 was faster, but lasted only about 10 seconds and used less logistically supportable hydrogen fuel.
The cruiser’s scramjet engine burns JP-7 jet fuel.
The shark-like shape of the 14-foot long X-51A is designed to ride its own shockwave, thus the nickname, Waverider.
The heart of the system is its Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne SJY61 scramjet engine.
One outcome from the X-51A program is to pave the way to future access to space.
Since scramjets are able to burn atmospheric oxygen, they don’t need to carry large fuel tanks containing oxidizer like conventional rockets, and are being explored as a way to more efficiently launch payloads into orbit.
By LD/CSE