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Hypersonic jet clocked at 5000mph; World record smashed as plane hits Mach 7

Posted on: Monday, 29 March 2004, 06:00 CST

A HYPERSONIC jet broke the world speed record and set a bench- mark in space travel by moving at seven times the speed of sound in a high-altitude test over the Pacific, Nasa scientists announced yesterday.

The space agency's X-43A research vehicle, which is 12ft- long and resembles a winged surfboard, reached slightly more than Mach 7, about 5000mph, during 11 seconds of powered flight before gliding at hypersonic speeds for several minutes and finally plunging into the ocean.

Conducted off the southern California coast on Saturday, the test marked the first time a "scramjet", or super-sonic-combustion ramjet, has powered a vehicle at such high speed.

Lawrence Huebner, Nasa's lead propulsion engineer, said the news was a milestone in developing the Holy Grail of space travel.

"It's been an outstanding, record-breaking day," he said.

Rather than carrying both the fuel and oxygen needed to provide acceleration, like a conventional rocket engine, scramjet engines carry only hydrogen fuel and pull the oxygen needed to burn that fuel from the atmosphere.

Researchers at the Nasa Dryden Flight Research Centre at Edwards Air Force Base, on the western edge of the Mojave Desert north of Los Angeles, hope the new engine will revolutionise aviation by enabling around-the-world flights that would take several hours, speeding the development of significantly faster aircraft and lowering the cost of launching payloads into space.

Joel Sitz, project manager, said: "The ramjet-scramjet is the Holy Grail of aeronautics in my mind. If you go from ground to space, you need to use a ramjet-scramjet if you're going to do it in the most efficient way you can."

Mr Huebner said the test had set a world speed record for a craft powered by an air-breathing engine.

He said: "To put this in perspective, a little over 100 years ago a couple of guys from Ohio flew for 120 feet in the first controlled powered flight," he said, referring to the Wright brothers.

"Today, we did something very similar in the same amount of time, but our vehicle under air-breathing power went over 15 miles."

Project members said the successful test had important commercial and military implications.

Mr Sitz said: "Efficient access to space opens up a whole new world for industry in the future, to be able to get to space and get back, quickly, and do it several times a month."

Griffin Corpening, project chief engineer, said Nasa had shown what was possible, adding: "Now, business and industry and the military can come forward with confidence that they can now use this kind of a propulsion system."

The first X-43A flight ended in failure on June 2, 2001, after the modified Pegasus rocket used to accelerate the plane veered off course and was detonated.

An investigation board found pre-flight analyses failed to predict how the rocket would perform, leaving its control system unable to maintain stable flight.

Nasa built the X-43A under a (pounds) 140m programme to develop and test an air-breathing engine which could propel an airplane to speeds of Mach 7 or faster, enabling around-the-world flight times of just several hours.

The American defence department is also working on the technology, which it is considering for use in bombers that could quickly reach targets anywhere around the globe.

The 2800lb X-43A was mounted on its rocket booster and carried to an altitude of 40,000ft by a modified B-52 bomber, which took off from Edwards.

A few seconds after the craft was dropped, the rocket flared, sending the jet skyward on a streak of flame and light. At about 100,000ft, the rocket dropped away.

The scramjet took over, using up about two pounds of gaseous hydrogen fuel before gliding. Technological hurdles mean it will be decades before such a plane could enter service.

Nasa's role in developing the technology remains in doubt, as the agency recently cut funding for more advanced versions of the X- 43A.

Later this year, Nasa researchers are planning to test the scramjet engine at Mach 10 - or about 7000mph - as part of their Hyper-X programme.

Hyper-thetical times Glasgow to Sydney: Just over two hours.

Glasgow to Los Angeles: Just over one hour.

Glasgow to Hong Kong: One hour and 10 minutes.

Glasgow to Tokyo: Just over one hour.

Glasgow to Berlin: Approximately 15 minutes.

Glasgow to Johannesburg: Just under one hour and 20 minutes.

Glasgow to Buenos Aires: Approximately one hour and 30 minutes.

Concorde's record flight from New York to London took two hours, 52 minutes.

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