Originally posted by chepye
oh my god! why crush? didn't they check the engine first? poor pilot . .>.<

Um, unmanned means not manned. Not manned means no man. No man means no pilot.

No "poor pilot" was in there.

It was "unmanned".

Originally posted by neo96
the launch platform is not a problem

the x-1 was launched from a b-29 considerably slower than the x-1.

b-52 while slower creates a stable platform for vehicle launch.

the crash could have been caused by any number of reasons but the b-52 aint one of them.

i just look at millions lost.

edit on 18-6-2011 by neo96 because: (no reason given)

Not sure about any details of this vehicle but sounds like the next step after Hyper-X (X-43). Those were strapped under a B-52 with a Pegasus booster to take it up to operating speed for the scramjet to start working.

One possible (and likely scenario) reason for the crash or aborted test is if the trackers lose track it will be given Destruct command. End of test. Dum Dum Ops people like to put every available tracker from Edwards, China Lake, Pt Mugu, Vandenberg, etc. on these ops. Then we are tripping over each other's main bangs. At those speeds our bangs start crossing too quickly to stay out of each others way and to cross main bangs can knock two trackers off the target. When we observe signals about to cross we can "skip" in time to avoid each other. At Mach 6 that is not easy and the ops people put too many trackers on.

I was designated primary track for the final two X-43's. I was skipping like a mad mutha'.

I dont know how true it is, but I remember hearing that the blackbird could reach mach 8 back then.

Question. How long do they expectt this little plane to stay in the air?
It doesnt look big enough to hold a lot of fuel for long periods of time.
Will it be for unmanned use only, or for future kamikaze pilots?

Originally posted by mikepopy
I dont know how true it is, but I remember hearing that the blackbird could reach mach 8 back then.

Question. How long do they expectt this little plane to stay in the air?
It doesnt look big enough to hold a lot of fuel for long periods of time.
Will it be for unmanned use only, or for future kamikaze pilots?

The SR-71 Blackbird would top mach 3, around m 3.2. That was the fastest air-breather until tests of the X-43 whose third and last flight nearly reached mach 10, about 9.8 actually.

The X-43 and now X-51 are test platforms for the scramjet design, a variant of the ramjet. These are air-breathing designs that rely on intake of air compressed at supersonic speeds for its combustion.

More immediate plans are for use in un-manned weapons delivery systems but this could all pave the way, someday, for possible passenger transportation in the future.

Not sure about those triangles being talked about, some other kind of propulsion system entirely - if they exist. I worked with test and evaluation of the latest and greatest goodies in the known world. Never saw a "triangle" as being described in other posts - who knows?

After reading the short article I see the reason for this "crash" (these are all non-recoverable even if they do fly successfully). The X-51 test vehicle was unable to separate from its booster. In the test operations these are carried out of Edwards AFB in Calif high-desert by a B-52 out to the pacific. After passing beyond the channel islands they are launched, dropped actually, and a booster rocket fires and takes the scramjet platform up to supersonic speeds where it can achieve combustion of its scramjet engine, intended for high-altitude flight at the threshhold of space. The flight is then monitored throughout its duration and the spent vehicle drops-off into the pacific and is not recovered.

These are test platforms for this propulsion-system design and are not currently designed to be used yet in actual delivery-systems. That will come later.

Pretty interesting that we are working on Hypersonic cruise missles when the Russians have had them for quite awhile now. Moskit/SS-N-22 Sunburn, 38M2 Mosquito,Indian/Russian Brahmos 2. While the missles are Ramjet style and capable of Mach 3. While typical of one upmanship we are going for mach 6+ scramjet. I was wondering if you can actually make high speed manuvering at these speeds in atmosphere, say avoiding missile defense systems, without tearing themselves apart.Or are these things going in a straight line trajectory like a bullet or maybe smaller less agressive manuvering?


Bill

Erongaricuaro,

thanks for your input as a former researcher which is greatly appreciated by anyone seriously interested in these subjects.

Now as for the black triangles. Why is it that anytime somebody begins mentioning exotic research programs some idiot or said bunch of idiots jumps out of the woodwork making completely fantastic and completely unproven claims of black triangles, alien technology or some other self absorbed crap? NO SERIOUSLY, what are you, socially disaffected? This rubbish has nothing to do with the subject matter at hand. If you feel the need to spout this drivel because you lack self control, are a teenager masquerading as an adult, or need the social attention why dont you do it in the appropriate forum? There are plenty of UFO threads here so why come and hijack the aircraft forum, the OP wasn't giving you carte blanche to derail the thread so why do it?

Some of us here just want to understand what happened to the test and how it went wrong.

LEE.

The X-51A is just being used to develop supersonic combustion ramjet (scramjet) technology. The two successful X-43A flights only provided data for about 10 seconds or so of scramjet operation for each flight. The goal of the X-51A is to get several minutes of scramjet operation up to about Mach 6. Eventually, when the technology is mature, the data will be used to develop operational systems. Technology applications involving development of hypersonic weapons are more easily achievable, and more economical, than concepts for global reach or access to space.

For test purposes, the X-51A is carried to 50,000 feet beneath the wing of a B-52H. The combination of payload weight and the capabilities of the bomber's engines means that the B-52 is operating at the edge of its performance envelope. It has to get the test vehicle to 50K because of limitations inherent in the rocket booster, and the X-51A must be carried by the booster to significantly higher speeds and altitudes in order to meet scramjet test conditions.

After each flight, the X-51A falls into the ocean. No hardware is recovered. All data is telemetered to the ground. The news media like to use the word "crashed," but this creates the wrong impression. It is planned that the vehicle falls into the water within the test range.

During this last test, the X-51A was successfully released from the B-52. The rocket booster accelerated it to just over Mach 5. The scramjet engine was successfully ignited using ethylene fuel (a feat that has been compared to lighting a match in a hurricane). While attempting to transition to JP-7 (the same fuel used in the SR-71), the vehicle experienced a phenomenon known as and aerodynamic disturbance, or "unstart."

An inlet unstart can only occur when the aircraft is supersonic and after and inlet has been "started"; that is, supersonic flow is established inside the inlet. An unstart occurs when the inlet pressure becomes too great and has no place to go inside the inlet, causing a shockwave expulsion to relieve the excess pressure build up.

The X-51A automatically reoriented itself to optimize engine start conditions, but attempts to restart failed. The X-51A continued to descend in controlled flight until it impacted within the test range. As with the earlier X-43A, data was collected throughout the flight. Although relatively little scramjet operation data was collected due to the unstart, a great deal of other information was collected, so it was not a total failure by any means.

Originally posted by thebozeian
Now as for the black triangles. Why is it that anytime somebody begins mentioning exotic research programs some idiot or said bunch of idiots jumps out of the woodwork making completely fantastic and completely unproven claims of black triangles, alien technology or some other self absorbed crap? NO SERIOUSLY, what are you, socially disaffected?

Time for decafe



Couldn't resist with such an opening

As to what happened to the X-51a... seems shadowhawk covered it pretty well