The Art Neuro Weblog

Scramjet City
NASA is readying the X-43a for Mach 10 flights.

Here at NASAs Dryden Flight Research Center, the third X-43A is undergoing "short-stack integration," explained Joel Sitz, X-43A project manager at the center. The craft is being outfitted and tested for a Mach 10 mission in the September-October time frame, he told SPACE.com .

Jacking up the speed will mean the vehicle will see higher heat loads than those observed on the Mach 7 flight on March 27.

"At Mach 7, the front leading edge of the vehicle would see about 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit. At Mach 10, its probably twice that -- twice the heat load essentially," Sitz explained.

Those blistering temperatures will be tamed by special thermal protection applied to the Mach 10 vehicle, Sitz said. "The coatings that we are using were sort of a mini-research experiment in itself."

The upcoming Mach 10 flight concludes the seven year project. It would be a shame if NASA shut down on its hypersonic flight research, but then NASA is schizophrenic. The smaller projects always seem to have interesting pay-offfs that then sit on the shelf while their flagship projects flounder. 
 
- Art Neuro