August 15th, 2012
> 02:41 PM ET
> CloseShare this on:
> Air Force's hypersonic test fails
> By Mike Mount
>
> A hypersonic aircraft launched by the Air Force Tuesday spiraled out of
> control and was destroyed before it could reach its goal of speeding to
> 4,600 mph, Pentagon officials said Wednesday.
>
> The third test of the X-51A Waverider was launched Tuesday off the
> California coast from a B-52 modified bomber aircraft and was to fly for 300
> seconds, reaching hypersonic speeds of Mach 6, but only flew for 16 seconds,
> according to the Air Force.
>
> Officials said a problem with a tail fin caused the missile-like vehicle to
> fly out of control before the main engine could be ignited, leading
> researchers to destroy it early.
>
> "A fault was identified with one of the cruiser control fins. Once the X-51
> separated from the rocket booster, approximately 15 seconds later, the
> cruiser was not able to maintain control due to the faulty control fin and
> was lost," said a statement issued by the Air Force.
>
> It's unclear what, if any, information was gleaned from the test. According
> to the statement, "Program officials will now begin the process of working
> through a rigorous evaluation to determine the exact cause of all factors at
> play."
>
> The Air Force plans to go public with details of the failed test in a few
> weeks, after researchers are able to analyze the data from the flight.
>
> The world's record-breaking airports
>
> "It is unfortunate that a problem with this subsystem caused a termination
> before we could light the Scramjet engine," said Charlie Brink, X-51A
> Program Manager for Air Force Research Laboratory. "All our data showed we
> had created the right conditions for engine ignition and we were very
> hopeful to meet our test objectives."
>
> The Air Force had four X-51A Waveriders and has tested three. Officials said
> they do not yet know when or if the fourth Waverider will be tested.
>
No comments:
Post a Comment