The NASA X-43 is an American unpiloted experimental aircraft developed under the Hyper-X program to test an air-breathing scramjet engine at hypersonic speed, carried aloft by a booster rocket before separating and igniting its own engine for a brief powered test flight. In November 2004 an X-43A reached a speed of roughly Mach 9.6, setting a speed record for an air-breathing jet-powered aircraft that stood for years afterward and demonstrated the feasibility of scramjet propulsion at hypersonic speeds.
Facts
SignificanceSet the speed record for an air breathing jet powered aircraft at about Mach 9.6 using a scramjet engine. 1 Manufacturer or Builder Sources
1. NASA X-43, Wikipedia
Flight history section
NASA flew a third version of the X-43A on November 16, 2004.
Infobox, Manufacturer
Micro Craft (airframe)
Lead section
The X-43 is the fastest jet-powered aircraft on record at approximately Mach 9.6.
In Group: Rocket-Powered and Hypersonic Research Aircraft, Lead sentence
The NASA X-43 was an experimental unmanned hypersonic aircraft with multiple planned scale variations meant to test various aspects of hypersonic flight.
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