http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4018117.stm official link : http://www.nasa.gov/missions/research/x43-main.html (towards the middle half) Launch completed just about 10-15 mins ago. A hypersonic jet (unmanned) was dropped at an altitude of about 100000 ft from a b-52 aircraft carrier. It successfully reached a speed of Mach 10 (7000 mph) shattering the previous one set in March of 2004 that reached about Mach 6.8 will have a news article and edit with one once it's up just thought it was a pretty exciting event there's no official link yet citing success, but posting this one just to show that it was launched today. press conference is on the NASA channel (if you have cable or direct tv) and might be on local stations as well at 6 pm central. -iso
hmm, good question lol. The X-43A is an experimental aircraft known as a scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet). It reaches rocket-like speeds but is more efficient because it does not need to carry oxygen to ignite its fuel supply - it takes oxygen from the atmosphere. so does that qualify as ultra or just supersonic? edit: official link aside from nasa posted at msnbc now http://msnbc.msn.com/ID/6504898/
It's a scramjet, which is a cool concept in that there are no moving parts. The vehicle is moving so fast that all they have to do is compress the air from the intakes and release fuel into it and it spontaniously ignites. Cool! The technology is being developed for (among other reasons) the proposed Hypersoar Bomber which could give the US nearly instant worldwide reach.
