NASA Built A Hypersonic Aircraft

An artist's conception of the X-43A Hypersonic Experimental Vehicle, or "Hyper-X" in flight. The X-43A was developed to flight test a dual-mode ramjet/scramjet propulsion system at speeds from Mach 7 up to Mach 10 (7 to 10 times the speed of sound, which varies with temperature and altitude).

In the past week, I’ve written about the (most likely apocryphal) SR-91 Aurora spy plane, which supposedly could hit speeds of Mach 5, and the SR-72—proposed successor to the SR-71 Blackbird—which is touted to be able to hit speeds of Mach 6. Now we’re going to discuss a hypersonic aircraft that would leave even those birds in the dust, at a mind-blowing Mach 9: the NASA X-43 (part and parcel of NASA’s Hyper-X program).

Unlike the Aurora and the SR-72, the X-43’s existence is an actual verifiable fact, with a total of three built, and making its maiden flight on 02 June 2001; the first specimen did not live to tell the tale, as the Pegasus booster lost control about 8 seconds after ignition when it was released from the B-52 carrier, as the plane was destroyed by the Range Safety Officer … 

However, the program rose like the proverbial Phoenix from the ashes of its own destruction. During the more successful second and third flights, the scramjets operated for approximately 10 seconds followed by 10-minute glides and intentional crashes into the ocean (the vehicles were not designed to be recovered).

To be more precise about its speed capabilities, the X-43A, during its third and final flight in November 2004, successfully attained a speed of Mach 9.6 (7,365 mph; 11,852 kph) as it flew over the Pacific Ocean west of California at an altitude of about 110,000 feet (33,500 m); as a result, NASA was officially recognized for setting the speed record for a jet-powered aircraft by Guinness World Records. 

For a basis of comparison, the previous record for an air-breathing vehicle—but not an airplane—was held by a ramjet-powered missile, which achieved slightly more than Mach 5, whilst the highest speed attained by a rocket-powered airplane, the X-15 piloted by William “Pete” Knight, was Mach 6.7.  READ MORE...