Mach 10 Free Flight of Hypersonic X-43A Slated for Week of Nov. 8

X-43A Stack on B-52 Mothership. NASA Photo

The last flight of the series of three X-43A research missions in NASA's Hyper-X program is planned to fly as soon as the restricted Navy Pacific Ocean test range off the coast of Southern California becomes available, but no earlier than Nov. 8. The high-risk mission is intended to gather data on the operation of the X-43A's revolutionary supersonic-combustion ramjet (or "scramjet") engine at a record speed of almost 10 times the speed of sound.

As with the first two flights, the third X-43A will be carried aloft by NASA's B-52B launch aircraft from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center on Edwards Air Force Base. The B-52B "mothership" will release the combined X-43A and Pegasus booster stack at 40,000 feet altitude off the coast of Southern California. The booster will then accelerate the experimental vehicle to nearly Mach 10, or almost 7,000 mph, at approximately 110,000 feet altitude. ...Full story

Pathfinder-Plus Solar Wing Readied to Fly Again at NASA Dryden

Sensitive instruments on wing-mounted booms measure air turbulence and its effect on the stability of the Pathfinder-Plus solar-electric flying wing.. NASA Photo by Tom Tschida

NASA and AeroVironment, Inc., are joining forces again to conduct a new series of research flights by the solar-electric Pathfinder-Plus flying wing this fall at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center. The lightweight solar craft has been instrumented with a sophisticated atmospheric turbulence measurement system on seven long booms mounted across the leading edge of the wing. About three or four low-altitude flights over the edge of Rogers Dry Lake adjacent to NASA Dryden are intended gather data to help engineers characterize and model the effects of turbulence on the aerodynamics of lightweight, flexible-structure aircraft.

Guinness World Records Recognizes NASA X-43A Speed Record

Guinness World Records has recognized the world speed record set by NASA's hypersonic X-43A aircraft in an experimental flight over the Pacific Ocean earlier this year. The unpiloted, 12- foot-long aircraft achieved Mach 6.83 -- almost seven times the speed of sound -- or nearly 5,000 mph, while its supersonic-combustion ramjet (scramjet) engine propelled the craft for 11 seconds during the flight on March 27.

The accomplishment will be included in the 2006 Guinness World Records book, set for release this time next year....Full story

The Business of Risk

NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe NASA Photo by Tom Tschida

The successful Sept. 29 launch of Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne marked a potential beginning for a new era of civilian space tourism. NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe attended the flight, and afterward congratulated Rutan and pilot Mike Melville on the groundbreaking achievement. ...Full Story

Dryden's 'Rat Pack'

They're affectionately (if unofficially) known as the hangar rats. They've been fixtures on the Dryden landscape for decades. And their mandate is simple, but far from easy: keep the planes running - safely.

Joe Niquette works in the engine compartment of an ER-2. NASA Photo by Tom Tschida

F-15s, F-16s and F/A-18s, manned and unmanned experimental aircraft, research testbeds and a wide assortment of other flying machines winged, instrumented and otherwise - these are the planes that made Dryden famous. The hangar rats are the guys who make sure the pilots who fly those planes take to the skies safely. Every time. So those same pilots can also, in turn, bring the plane back down to the runway safely, and live to do it all over again.

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