« Microsoft hit with $613M fine, yawns indifferently | Main | The teachers that influence our lives »
March 25, 2004
Extreme speed
Original article here.
Fifty-seven years after combat pilot Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier, NASA will make a second attempt Saturday at flying an aircraft at 5,000 mph -- about seven times Mach 1, the speed of sound.
Ok, no big deal. A jet that flies at 5,000mph. Whoopie.
But then....
During the test, the 49-foot-long booster rocket will propel the X-43A to about 3,700 mph before the experimental plane detaches from the rocket and flies under its own power using a hydrogen-powered "scramjet" engine, the first such test of the technology.The actual powered-flight is expected to last about 10 seconds and reach Mach 7 before gliding for six minutes and plunging into the Pacific Ocean.
If I'm reading that passage correctly, this plane will accelerate from 3,700mph to 5,000mph in 10 seconds.
And I thought my GSXR-1100 was fast. Holy shit!
Posted by Christopher at March 25, 2004 12:12 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.lurid.org/mt-tb.cgi/104