CastleBravo
09-05-09, 02:03 PM
Pushing the edge of technology. More rocket than jet from what the article is saying. Not that that is a bad thing...I guess.
The X-51A flight tests are intended to demonstrate that the engines can achieve their desired speed without disintegrating. While the X-51 looks like a large rocket now, its applications that could change the way aircraft or spaceships are designed, fly into space, support reconnaissance missions and handle long-distance flight operations.
At the heart of the test is the aircraft's air-breathing hypersonic scramjet system.
Hypersonic combustion generates intense heat and routing of the engine's own JP-7 fuel will help keep the engine at the desired operating temperature, the Air Force stated. As the scramjet engine ignites it will initially burn a mix of ethylene and JP-7 jet fuel before switching exclusively to JP-7. Once the test is over the X-51 will splash into the Pacific.
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/44966
The X-51A flight tests are intended to demonstrate that the engines can achieve their desired speed without disintegrating. While the X-51 looks like a large rocket now, its applications that could change the way aircraft or spaceships are designed, fly into space, support reconnaissance missions and handle long-distance flight operations.
At the heart of the test is the aircraft's air-breathing hypersonic scramjet system.
Hypersonic combustion generates intense heat and routing of the engine's own JP-7 fuel will help keep the engine at the desired operating temperature, the Air Force stated. As the scramjet engine ignites it will initially burn a mix of ethylene and JP-7 jet fuel before switching exclusively to JP-7. Once the test is over the X-51 will splash into the Pacific.
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/44966