On 28 Mar 2004 19:39:42 -0800, (Jim Pflaum)
wrote:

Scott Ferrin wrote in message . ..
On Sun, 28 Mar 2004 08:32:30 -0800, "Tarver Engineering"
wrote:


"Jim Pflaum" wrote in message
. com...
It's a shame that the X-43A's budget has been cutback. Somehow,
someway Congress needs to find funds to help NASA push its scramjet
project forward. From a public benefits standpoint, it seem to me
that we'll reap faster returns from NASA's scramjet program than we
will from its manned Mars program. Jim Pflaum - Raleigh, NC

China is going to the moon and we have to be there when they get there.

(Eric Moore) wrote in message
. com...
NASA's X-43A Scramjet hit 5000mph. See:


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...d=624&ncid=716



The irony is they cancelled the X-43C mere days before this successful
flight. What about the X-43B? ISTR it's suppose to be quite a bit
bigger than either the A or the C. Was it also cancelled?

I don't think that NASA has actually cancelled the X-43 or ISTR
programs, but it's apparently doing some pretty heavy budget cutting
on the X-43 program. I'm just guessing, but it seems they maybe
shifting the X-43's program funds into the manned Mars program. If
that's what NASA's doing, I think it's making a big mistake. I don't
know about you, but I'd much rather take a 2 hour scramjet ride to
Paris than a 3 month ride to Mars.


I'm fairly certain the C got the axe. They didn't mention the B
though. Here's the pertinant info on the models:

"The X-43A, an unpiloted research craft mounted atop a modified
Pegasus booster rocket, was first flown in June 2001. During the
flight, an in-flight incident forced the mission to be aborted. NASA
has planned three X-43A flights; two more X-43A flight demonstrators,
built in early 2002, are being prepared for flight testing at NASA’s
Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif. Fueled by hydrogen,
the X-43A is intended to achieve Mach 7 and possibly Mach 10, or
speeds of approximately 5,000 and 7,500 mph, respectively.

The X-43C demonstrator, powered by a scramjet engine developed by the
U.S. Air Force, is now in development. The X-43C is expected to
accelerate from Mach 5 to Mach 7, reaching a maximum potential speed
of about 5,000 mph. NASA will begin flight-testing the X-43C in 2008.

The largest of the Hyper-X test vehicles, the X-43B, could be
developed — and would fly — later this decade. Successful ground- and
flight-testing of various engine configurations aboard the X-43A and
X-43C will determine whether a rocket- or turbine-based combined-cycle
engine powers the X-43B.

All three X-43 flight demonstrator projects are managed by NASA’s
Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va."


It could be the C is duplicating other USAF efforts or is being
surpassed by them and is redundant anyway.