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Current
Developments
NASA Langley is carrying out various
wind-tunnel tests on the Hyper-X design in an effort to
refine the vehicle's design. Later, the first Hyper-X
vehicle (the Mach 7 vehicle) will be tested in Langley's
8-Foot High Temperature Wind Tunnel. The vehicle, with a
fully operating ramjet/scramjet propulsion system, will be
put through tests in the tunnel simulating many, but not
all, Mach 7 flight conditions. Dryden is working very
closely with Langley in this refinement process, as well as
working out the flight test issues, such as flight profile,
vehicle instrumentation, and Pegasus booster/Hyper-X
adaptation and integration. Flight test logistics support
issues are being worked out.
Flight
Testing
Four flights are planned - one each
at Mach 5 and 7 and two at Mach 10. The flight tests will be
conducted within the Western Aeronautical Test Range off the
coast of southern California. The current flight profile
calls for launching the Hyper-X vehicles on a southerly
heading. The flights will terminate near San Nicolas Island
of the Channel Island chain. The ground track is completely
over water and is nearly 400 miles in length.
Hyper-X will ride on the first stage
of an Orbital Sciences Corp., Dulles, Va.booster rocket,
which will be launched by Dryden's B-52 at about 40,000
feet. For each flight, the booster will accelerate the
Hyper-X research vehicle to the test conditions (Mach 5, 7
or 10) at approximately 100,000 feet, where it will separate
from the booster and fly under its own power. Orbital
Science's Launch Vehicles Division in Chandler, Ariz. will
construct the Hyper-X launch vehicles.
Management
Roles
The Hyper-X program is managed by a
combined Langley-Dryden team. Langley's Vince Rausch is the
overall Program Manager. Langley is the responsible NASA
center for hypersonic technology development. The Langley
Hyper-X Technology Project Manager is Charles McClinton.
Dryden's Larry Crawford is the Hyper-X Flight Research
Project Manager, responsible for the actual research
flights.
Hyper-X
vs. NASP
One major difference between the
Hyper-X program and the National Aerospace Plane (NASP)
program is the technical approach taken. The NASP program
sought to integrate many new, untried technologies into a
full-scale test vehicle. The primary legacy of the NASP
program was the realization that its multiple technologies,
including large scale scramjets, were not mature enough to
be flight tested in a single, highly integrated
vehicle-system approach. Scramjets required separate flight
testing and integration into an airframe, a crucial element
in hypersonic vehicle construction. The Hyper-X program is
taking the step-by-step incremental approach, starting
naturally enough with the key scramjet engine technology.
Also, rather than attempting to construct a large vehicle,
Hyper-X will utilize the four small-scale vehicles which
save millions of dollars and reduces the possibility of one
enormous financial loss in the event of a crash during the
flight test program.
Other hypersonic flight projects have
been attempted, even dating back to the 1960's. Between the
status of technology, funding, politics, and interest at the
specific time of each project, none ever got very far. So,
in effect, hypersonics is still a flight science in it's
infancy.
Program
Logo 
Just about everything in the Hyper-X
program logo means something. The "X" does indeed represent
"experimental". However, it also is the Roman numeral "10,"
as Hyper-X will fly at speeds up to Mach 10. In addition,
there are 10 white stars in the "X" representing this speed.
Superimposed over the "X" in the center of the logo is a
side-profile of the vehicle. The graduating background
colours represent the extreme heating environment Hyper-X
will encounter, with red at the nose representing the
hottest portion of the vehicle. Red fades to yellow toward
the rear of the vehicle, which still encounters temperatures
up to 2000 degrees Fahrenheit.
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