If you're a sky gazer or telescope enthusiast like you’ve probably heard about the X-43A scramjet plane NASA has been testing. Shhh, its path in Earth’s low orbit is supposed to be a tight-lipped secret, but amateur astronomers have managed to find it in orbit and actually track its path. I myself got a glimpse of it one night, and it sped across the night sky like lightning. I assume that’s what I saw, either that or a UFO, because this light was gone from the sky (And I was under an open sky) in a matter of a few seconds.
As the title says this machine has the potential to change how we travel anywhere including into space, across oceans and so on. The X-43A plane is the fastest jet-powered aircraft in the entire world. Let me put the speed of this plane into perspective; it flies at a rate of up to Mach 9.6 according to NASA. Mach is considered the speed at which sound travels, about 767 mph. Mach 9.6 represents a speed 9.6 times faster that of sound, approximately around 7,000 mph. If and when this technology begins to be implemented into real world capabilities (who know when and if that will ever happen) flying across the world would take at most 2 hours. A trip to Hong Kong, China would be like a drive to Boston from where I live.
Imagine having a swim at the Great Barrier Reef and two hours later having lunch at a Pizzeria Uno’s in Chicago. I’m sure my brother would love that! However, the scramjet was an immense undertaking and was only put into orbit after a seven-year program of tests, which cost around $230 million. So don’t hold your breath as NASA is struggling to find funds, and often suffers from the axe of cutting budgets.
Hope is still on the horizon as this is the second world record for this program, called Hyper-X. The first was a speed of Mach 6.8 or about 5,000 mph in March of 2004. This program may be one of the few that NASA has that won’t be tossed (besides sending a man to an asteroid), due to the fact that its use spans across numerous facets.
The Hyper-X program is so important because will it not only save on fuel consumption (both economically and environmentally), but also offers increased safety and flexibility while being more affordable than fuel powered engines. The X-43A’s engine works so well, because its oxygen is pulled right from our atmosphere, which makes it fantastic for getting astronauts into low orbit or the International Space Station.
This method also lowers the aircrafts weight due to no longer needing to carry a heavy oxidizer.
With NASA’s soon to be dead shuttle program, the X-43A gives hope to the idea of a still government funded program to put astronauts into orbit. As of right now it looks like that job will fall into commercial hands, which may also be a boon seeing as private companies can more readily afford such a large undertaking.
Once again keep your eyes to the sky, and hopefully you’ll see the amazing and supersonic X-43A plane.
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