hypersonics
Rocket Ships
AEROSPACETESTINGINTERNATIONAL.COM // MARCH 31
// The X-43A,
mounted to its
Pegasus booster,
under the wing of
the NB-52 mothership
for a January 26,
2004, captive-carry
test. (Photo: NASA/
Carla Thomas)
aptain William Knight, US Air
Force, achieved Mach 6.7 in the
fastest of several hypersonic X-15
flights on October 3, 1967. Among
the most successful of the US X-plane programs, the X-15
proved that the concept of crewed hypersonic operations
could be turned into reality. But interest waned after its
final sortie in 1968. NASA did not return to the
hypersonic arena until 2004, with the X-43A, while the
US Air Force developed the X-51A in 2010. Both were
subscale vehicles for trials of limited extent.
Managed by the US Air Force’s Research Laboratory
(AFRL), the X-51A program gathered data intended to
help engineers and scientists better understand the
rigours of sustained hypersonic flight, but at the same
time had obvious application to missile development. The
program was closed down after a final mission in 2013.
But recently, with China and Russia looking to exploit
hypersonic technologies in military applications, the
USA is again developing hypersonic air vehicles.
XA
Designed by the AFRL’s Aerospace Systems Directorate,
High Speed Systems Division and manufactured by
Generation Orbit Launch Services through an AFRL
Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract, the
X-60A is an air-launched, rocket-powered vehicle that
Barry Hellman, X-60A Program Manager, says “…is being
developed to provide a flying wind tunnel platform for
technology maturation”.
“It is expected that the X-60A will be able to mature
technology for different types of hypersonic vehicle, with
flying hypersonic technology payloads the focus of
future flights. Each payload will come with its own
/AEROSPACETESTINGINTERNATIONAL.COM
