EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif: In its first flight attempt, the Boeing X–51A WaveRider today successfully completed the longest supersonic combustion ramjet–powered flight in history — nearly three and a half minutes at a top speed of Mach 5.
The unmanned aerial vehicle was released from a U.S. Air Force B–52H bomber off the southern California coast around 10 a.m. today. It flew autonomously for more than 200 seconds, powered by its Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne supersonic combustion ramjet (scramjet) motor, as it transmitted telemetry data to ground stations. Something then occurred that caused the vehicle to lose acceleration. At that point, the X–51A was terminated as planned.
"The technology proven today is something The Boeing Company has worked on for the past seven years," said Alex Lopez, vice president of Advanced Network & Space Systems, a division of Boeing Phantom Works. "It is thrilling to be a part of history and advance hypersonic science to the next level. Boeing is looking forward to transitioning the technology to operation in the near term, but for now, we are exhilarated."
Even before analyzing the terabytes of telemetry data transmitted by the X–51A during flight, Air Force officials called the test an unqualified success.
"We are ecstatic to have accomplished many of the X–51A test points during its first hypersonic mission," said Charlie Brink, X–51A program manager with the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright–Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. "This gives us huge confidence. We built four test vehicles to get a successful flight, and we hit many of our goals right out of the gate, the first time around."
The X–51A was carried aloft under the left wing of an Air Force Flight Test Center B–52H Stratofortress that took off from Edwards Air Force Base. It was released while flying at approximately 50,000 feet over the Point Mugu Naval Air Warfare Center Sea Range. Four seconds later, a solid rocket booster from a U.S. Army tactical missile accelerated the X–51A to about Mach 4.5 before it and a connecting interstage were jettisoned. The X–51A's engine ignited on a mix of ethylene and JP–7 jet fuel. After a short period, the X–51A ran exclusively on JP–7 jet fuel. The flight reached an altitude of about 70,000 feet and an approximate speed of Mach 5.

X–51 Waverider Test Pre-Flight Checks

Courtesy: United States Air Force

X–51A Waverider Test,Taxi for take off

Courtesy: United States Air Force

Test footage of the X–51A Waverider, Test 1 off 4

Courtesy: United States Air Force

  WRIGHT–PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio: Weather permitting, Air Force officials said the X—51A Waverider will make its first hypersonic flight test attempt May 25 after it is released from a B—52 Stratofortress off the southern coast of California.
The unmanned X—51A is expected to fly autonomously for five minutes, powered by a supersonic combustion scramjet engine, accelerating to about Mach 6 and transmitting vast amounts of data to ground stations before breaking up after splashing down into the Pacific, as planned. There are no plans to recover the flight test vehicle, one of four built.
“In those 300 seconds, we hope to learn more about hypersonic flight with a practical scramjet engine than all previous flight tests combined,” said Charlie Brink, X—51A program manager with the Air Force Research Laboratory's Propulsion Directorate here.

  Unidentified object falls from sky onto beach in Bat Yam, narrowly missing lifeguard booth and causing small fire, witnesses say. Chairman of Astrology Association says object is probably meteorite
'It kept on burning'
The lifeguard who saw the meteorite land, Yisrael Rokach, told Ynet: “In the morning, as always, I embarked on a patrol in the water.when I returned towards the beach I spotted a small object landing from above and starting to burn.” “At first I didn't understand what happened; I thought someone threw it down from above,” the lifeguard said. “When I got closer I saw a small object that kept on burning and smoking. I immediately called my fellow lifeguards, who didn't believe me. They came down and at the same time we called the police.”

Falcon HTV–2 Launch Tests Hypersonic Vehicle Flight Capabilities

  Vandenberg AFB, Calif., April 23, 2010 ... The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced that it launched its Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV–2) at 16:00 PDT yesterday.
Preliminary review of technical data indicates the Minotaur Lite launch system successfully delivered the Falcon HTV–2 glide vehicle to the desired separation conditions. The launch vehicle executed first of its kind energy management maneuvers, clamshell payload fairing release and HTV–2 deployment. Approximately 9 minutes into the mission, telemetry assets experienced a loss of signal from the HTV–2. An engineering team is reviewing available data to understand this event.
This flight represents many historic firsts for both the launch system and the HTV–2 vehicle. Three test ranges, six sea–based and two airborne telemetry collection assets were employed and operational on the day of launch.
Technical data collected during the flight will provide insight into the hypersonic flight characteristics of the HTV–2.
DARPA's Falcon HTV–2 program objective is developing and testing an unmanned, rocket–launched, maneuverable, hypersonic air vehicle that glides through the Earth's atmosphere at incredibly fast speeds-up to Mach 20. The key technical challenges of the HTV–2 program are the design and testing of an innovative high lift–to–drag aerodynamic shape, advanced lightweight but tough thermal protection structures, materials and fabrication technologies, autonomous hypersonic navigation guidance and control systems, and an autonomous flight safety system.