http://www.wftv.com/news/2947165/detail.htmlLOS ANGELES -- A second attempt to fly an experimental unmanned jet at high speed was scheduled for Saturday, three years after the first attempt ended in an explosion.
NASA said Wednesday it hopes to reach a speed of nearly 5,000 mph, or Mach 7, during its second X-43A flight. The 12-foot-long plane would fire its engine for 10 seconds, then coast for a few minutes before crashing into the ocean off California.
If the high-risk flight is successful, it will mark the first time an exotic jet engine, called a supersonic-combustion ramjet or scramjet, has propelled a plane at so-called hypersonic speeds.
Even so, the future of the $250 million Hyper-X program remains in doubt: NASA recently cut funding for more advanced versions of the plane.
Let's see, a scramjet equipped hypersonic airliner could go from New York to Tokyo in a couple hours, kick ass!
(snip)
The Department of Defense is developing a hypersonic bomber that theoretically could reach targets anywhere on Earth within two hours of takeoff from the continental United States. The earliest such a plane would enter operation is 2025.
Oh, wonderful, the military's gonna use it to kill people first.
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