Record-breaking "Scramjet"

Record-breaking "Scramjet"

Photograph courtesy NASA

A new supersonic combustion ramjet, or scramjet, engine gets put through its paces at a NASA research center in a ground-based test that simulated Mach 5 conditions in 2008. A scramjet is a type of jet engine that uses compressed air in place of conventional turbines to create thrust. (Read "U.S. Developing Jets That Fly Five Times the Speed of Sound.")

On May 26 the new engine successfully propelled a test flight of the U.S. Air Force's X-51A unmanned vehicle over southern California, breaking the record for the longest scramjet-powered flight to date. The X-51A burned for more than 200 seconds and accelerated the craft to five times the speed of sound.

Published June 1, 2010