DARPA/Boeing X-51A WaveRider - offtopic part

[flateric]

I posted Mach 5.4 because that's what the article at the Wright Propulsion Labs stated. That was probably ten years ago. If you go there now the link to their "Historical" section is grayed out. Which is too bad because it had some interesting stuff there.)

well, it's grayed out even in Internet Archive, which, unfortunately, started grab 'em since 2008...
what did you mean under term 'interesting stuff'?

 

[sferrin]

I posted Mach 5.4 because that's what the article at the Wright Propulsion Labs stated. That was probably ten years ago. If you go there now the link to their "Historical" section is grayed out. Which is too bad because it had some interesting stuff there.)

well, it's grayed out even in Internet Archive, which, unfortunately, started grab 'em since 2008...
what did you mean under term 'interesting stuff'?

Well the ASALM thing for instance. Apparently it accelerated at 2.5gs during it's runup to Mach 5+, which may not sound like much for a rocket but ain't too bad for an air-breather. Also they had an ancestor of the RJ102R (RATTLRS engine) running on a test stand and stated it was running a 1000 degrees higher than the then current state of the art. Just little things like that.

 

[saintkatanalegacy]

^ degrees F or C/K?

that certainly is interesting...

 

[sferrin]

^ degrees F or C/K?

that certainly is interesting...

F and that was quite a while ago. Think of it as a dragster engine rather than Formula 1. They run it harder than a mofo but it's lifetime is in minutes (it was/is a cruise missile engine) rather than thousands of hours.

 

[Orionblamblam]

^ degrees F or C/K?

First one, then the other.

 

[saintkatanalegacy]

i see...

would be a nice carrier vehicle in the future if it can sustain longer for extreme ranges imho. should get people badly unprepared...

^no pun intended

 

[sferrin]

Looks like it was about as bad as I'd feared:

"The X-51A booster-and-cruiser “stack” was released by the mother ship at around 50,000 ft. and Mach 0.8. The stack separated cleanly and the booster ignited as planned, taking the vehicle to Mach 4.8, where the cruiser separated and executed a planned roll maneuver.

After slowing to Mach 4.73, ethylene was used to ignite the scramjet, which then transitioned to JP-7 hydrocarbon fuel. The X-51A began to accelerate, but slower than expected—up to 0.15g instead of the projected 0.22g. “We were seeing higher temperatures in the back of the engine bay, but have no idea why,” Brink says."

So it accelerated from Mach 4.73 to "about Mach 5". Sheesh.

On the brighter side, at least they're not fumbling around with the program. Oh, wait. . .

"Three more X-51As have been built, but their flights are on hold because delays in flying the first vehicle have consumed most of the available funding. The team hopes the flight’s success will unlock new sources of funding and allow tests to resume in 2011."

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Amazing how trillions can be flung around like water but no money for something actually useful.

 

[Orionblamblam]

Amazing how trillions can be flung around like water but no money for something actually useful.

What, like rockets?

 

[saintkatanalegacy]

hmmm... not even in time for independence day...

 

[bobbymike]

From New Scientist some more information.

The flight fell short of its intended goals: 500 seconds of flight time and a speed of Mach 6. At a certain point, the aircraft seemed to decelerate before accelerating again, and engineers are now analysing the flight data to figure out why, says Christina Kelly, spokesperson for Boeing Phantom Works, which designed the vehicle. "But they got 95 per cent of it right," she says, pointing out that the vehicle successfully released from the B-52 and shot a straight course across the sky.
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Lots of date to review until the next flight but I'm with sferrin this is promising technology it needs to be funded.

 

[sferrin]

Amazing how trillions can be flung around like water but no money for something actually useful.

What, like rockets?

???? No, like advancing technology instead of bailing out unions, too-big-to-fails, car companies, idiots who got in over their heads on their mortgages because the banks were forced to lend to people who couldn't pay them back, etc.. Useless s--t like that. Also, it would seem to me to be a wise move to continue to advance defense technology since the other guys certainly aren't going to stop just because we do, and when it comes to defense, rockets tend to be pretty damn useful.

 

[bobbymike]

Orionblamblam - A big ol' Prompt Global Strike Rocket would be nice plus a MMIII replacement and a new SLBM while they are at it

 

[saintkatanalegacy]

^

The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA.

anyway, would be pity to see it discontinued

 

[seruriermarshal]

Amazing how trillions can be flung around like water but no money for something actually useful.

What, like rockets?

???? No, like advancing technology instead of bailing out unions, too-big-to-fails, car companies, idiots who got in over their heads on their mortgages because the banks were forced to lend to people who couldn't pay them back, etc.. Useless s--t like that. Also, it would seem to me to be a wise move to continue to advance defense technology since the other guys certainly aren't going to stop just because we do, and when it comes to defense, rockets tend to be pretty damn useful.

Yes , too-big-to-fails , like YF-22 crashed in test , like X-43 crashed in test , like SM-3 fail hit , we can cancel all weapons .

 

[saintkatanalegacy]

ermmm... by too-big-to-fail, I think he meant Lehmann Bros., AIG et al. basically dysfunctional corporations who got addicted to credits. the bigger problem is... bailing them out just made GS richer since everybody including greece owes them.

apologize for the OT btw. just couldn't help it being frustrated with the so-called "capitalism" going around

 

[sferrin]

Amazing how trillions can be flung around like water but no money for something actually useful.

What, like rockets?

???? No, like advancing technology instead of bailing out unions, too-big-to-fails, car companies, idiots who got in over their heads on their mortgages because the banks were forced to lend to people who couldn't pay them back, etc.. Useless s--t like that. Also, it would seem to me to be a wise move to continue to advance defense technology since the other guys certainly aren't going to stop just because we do, and when it comes to defense, rockets tend to be pretty damn useful.

Yes , too-big-to-fails , like YF-22 crashed in test , like X-43 crashed in test , like SM-3 fail hit , we can cancel all weapons .

Explain.

 

[seruriermarshal]

Amazing how trillions can be flung around like water but no money for something actually useful.

What, like rockets?

???? No, like advancing technology instead of bailing out unions, too-big-to-fails, car companies, idiots who got in over their heads on their mortgages because the banks were forced to lend to people who couldn't pay them back, etc.. Useless s--t like that. Also, it would seem to me to be a wise move to continue to advance defense technology since the other guys certainly aren't going to stop just because we do, and when it comes to defense, rockets tend to be pretty damn useful.

Yes , too-big-to-fails , like YF-22 crashed in test , like X-43 crashed in test , like SM-3 fail hit , we can cancel all weapons .

Explain.

Like X-51A aren't they ?

 

[quellish]

Like X-51A aren't they ?

Uhhh....no

 

[saintkatanalegacy]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Too_Big_to_Fail

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