Yesterday, the U.S. military in conjunction with several private companies including Boeing’s Phantom Works, successfully launched and flew the X-51A “WaveRider” unmanned test aircraft.  Powered by a Scramjet engine, the aircraft flew at speeds up to Mach 5, although this was below the intended hypersonic goal of Mach 6.  But the X-51A, having flown for 150 seconds powered by its scramjet,  did shatter NASA’s X-43A scramjet flight-time record of 10 seconds set in 2004, although this too was well below the test’s goal of 300 seconds.

The X-51A was dropped from the wing of a B-52 bomber and accelerated by a solid rocket booster to speeds above Mach 4.5, after which the air-breathing scramjet engine powered the aircraft to its final speed of Mach 5 on standard jet fuel.  Engineers will now analyse the flight data to learn what prevented the test from reaching its intended goals.  The X-51A crashed (as planned) into the Pacific Ocean at the test’s conclusion.  Subsequent tests on other aircraft in the X-51 program are planned.  A video of the launch is included below.