HYPERSOAR FLIGHT DIAGRAM (Seminar Hyperplanes)

The flight diagram of Hypersoar

The flight of Hypersoar is clearly shown in the diagram.It moves by skipping through the edge of the atmosphere.

8.1. WORKING OF HYPERSOAR (Seminar Hyperplanes)

Hypersoar Design Views

The HyperSoar escapes heat build-up on the airframe by skipping along the edge of Earth's atmosphere - much like a rock skipped across water. A HyperSoar aircraft would ascend to power outside the Earth's atmosphere - then turn off its engines and coast back to the surface of the atmosphere. There, it would again fire its air-breathing engines and skip back into space. The craft would repeat this process until it reached its destination. A flight from US to Japan will take 25 such skips. The skips will be angled at only 5 degrees. The passengers will feel a force of 1.5 Gs which what you would experience on a child's swing. The plane will power up to 39 kms, from where it will coast to double that altitude, before it starts to descend. Each skip will be 450 kms long.

All previous concepts have suffered from heat buildup on the surface of the aircraft and in various aircraft components due to friction with the atmosphere. A HyperSoar plane would experience less heating because it would spend much of its flight out of the Earth's atmosphere. Also, any heat the craft picked up while "skipping" down into the atmosphere could be at least partially dissipated during the aircraft's time in space(it is cold out there).HyperSoar has a promised fuel efficiency comparable to today's commercial aeroplanes. However, possible adverse environmental effects from emissions or sonic booms have not been looked into, which have plagued attempts to develop slower, supersonic transport planes.

8. HYPERSOAR (Seminar Hyperplanes)

The HyperSoar is a B-52 sized hypersonic bomber/recon aircraft concept under investigation by US DoE's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and University of Maryland. If developed, it would have the capability to take-off from the US and deliver its goods anywhere in the world in a couple of hours without refueling. It's speed(Mach 10) and altitude will make it near impossible to track it, much less bring it down. It's chief designer is Preston Carter.

Hypersoar will fly only at 'the edge of space' - 60 km - however, it needs technology that will more than just distinguish it from 'conventional' airplanes.

FUTURE OF SCRAMJET ENGINES,NASP (Seminar Hyperplanes)

Artist view of a National Aerospace Plane on a space mission
Diagrammatic representation of all the three views of NASP

After the X-43 tests in 2004, NASA Dryden engineers said that they expected all of their efforts to culminate in the production of a Two-Stage-To-Orbit Crewed Vehicle in about 20 years. The scientists expressed much doubt that there would be a Single Stage to Orbit crewed vehicle like the National Aerospace Plane (NASP) in the foreseeable future, also known as the "Orient Express” that would take off from an ordinary airport runway.

7.1. FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS IN X-43 (Seminar Hyperplanes)

The future models of X-43 would also have almost similar design as X-43A , though the aircraft were expected to be moderately to significantly larger in size. The future models are

(i).X-43B
The X-43B was expected to be a full-size vehicle, incorporating a turbine-based combined cycle (TBCC) engine or a rocket-based combined cycle (RBCC) ISTAR engine. Jet turbines or rockets would initially propel the vehicle to supersonic speed. A ramjet might take over starting at Mach 2.5, with the engine converting to a scramjet configuration at approximately Mach 5

(ii).X-43C
The X-43C would have been somewhat larger than the X-43A and was expected to test the viability of hydrocarbon fuel, possibly with the Hi-Tech engine. While most scramjet designs have used hydrogen for fuel, HyTech runs with conventional kerosene-type hydrocarbon fuels, which are more practical for support of operational vehicles. The building of a full-scale engine was planned which would use its own fuel for cooling. The engine cooling system would have acted as a chemical reactor by breaking long-chain hydrocarbons into short-chain hydrocarbons for a rapid burn.
The X-43C was indefinitely suspended in March 2004. The linked story reports the project's indefinite suspension and the appearance of Rear Admiral (RADM) Craig Steidle before a House Space and Aeronautics subcommittee hearing on March 18, 2004.
According to a special feature article by Daryl Stephenson in the August 2005 online issue of Boeing Frontiers the X-43C appears to be funded through 2005. "Thanks to a funding request of $25 million for NASA sponsored by U.S. Rep. Jim Talent (R-Mo.), work on the X-43C program will continue through 2005.

(iii).X-43D
The X-43D would have been almost identical to the X-43A, but expanding the speed envelope to approximately Mach 15. As of September 2007, only a feasibility study has been conducted by Donald B. Johnson of The Boeing Company and Jeffrey S. Robinson of NASA Langley Research Centre, in Hampton, VA. According to the introduction of the study, "The purpose of the X-43D is to gather high Mach number flight environment and engine operability information which is difficult, if not impossible, to gather on the ground."

REMEMBERING B-29 BOMBER ON THE HIROSHIMA DAY

B-29 Superfortress long range bomber plane (USA)

Everyone remembers the victims of the Hiroshima day,but how many try to remember the ghostly B-29 Superfortress, a heavy bomber plane nicknamed Enola Gay ,after the mother of Brigadier Paul Tibbets of US airforce ,who dropped the atom bomb at Hiroshima (in Japan ) at 8.15 am on August 6, 1945.The 16 kiloton uranium fission bomb dropped during that day virtually ended the war.

The B-29 bomber was produced by the Boeing Aircraft Company , became the first long-range heavy bomber employed by the United States. The Boeing B-29 was designed in 1940 as an eventual replacement for the B-17 and B-24. The first one built made its maiden flight on Sept. 21, 1942.The Boeing made the aircraft using conventional methods,but the main feature was a pressurized cabin, which allowed the aircraft to be used at high altitudes and also for long range bombings.B-29 was the heaviest production airplane in the world at that time.

B-29 has many specialties apart from its operational altitude,range armaments and payload capacity.The main one was the pressurized cabin.Unlike the conventional unpressurized cabin crew members cannot sit in the gun turrets, so the gun has to be fired with a remote controlled system.The plane also had two bomb bays, which allowed it to release the bombs alternatively so that the balance was maintained.So the aircraft was a technical marvel at that time and was capable of waging attack across the Pacific ocean.

Some technical details-
Specifications ( Boeing B-29 Superfortress )

General features

• Crew:- 11 to 14 (varies accordingly) Airplane Commander, Pilot, flight engineer (a rated pilot),bombardier, navigator, radio operator, radar operator, blister gunners (two), CFC upper gunner, and tail gunner Length: 99 ft 0 in (30.2 m)
• Wingspan:- 141 ft 3 in (43.1 m)
• Height:- 29 ft 7 in (8.5 m)
• Wing area:- 1,736 sqft (161.3 m²)
• Empty weight:- 74,500 lb (33,800 kg)
• Loaded weight:- 120,000 lb (54,000 kg)
• Max takeoff weight:- 133,500 lb (60,560 kg -- 135,000 lb plus combat load (144,000 lb on record[18]))

• Engines: 4× Wright R-3350-23 and 23A turbosupercharged radial engines, 2,200 hp (1,640 kW) each
• Zero-lift drag coefficient: 0.0241
• Drag area: 41.16 ft² (3.82 m²)
• Aspect ratio: 11.50

Performance characteristics

• Maximum speed: 357 mph (310 knots, 574 km/h)
• Cruise speed: 220 mph (190 knots, 350 km/h)
• Stall speed: 105 mph (91 knots, 170 km/h)
• Combat range: 3,250 mi (2,820 nmi, 5,230 km)
• Ferry range: 5,600 mi (4,900 nmi, 9,000 km, (record 5,839 mi, 5,074 nmi, 9,397 km[18]))
• Service ceiling: 33,600 ft (10,200 m)
• Rate of climb: 900 ft/min (4.6 m/s)
• Wing loading: 69.12 lb/sqft (337 kg/m²)
• Power/mass: 0.073 hp/lb (121 W/kg)
• Lift-to-drag ratio: 16.8

Armament

• Guns:-
• 10× .50 in (12.7 mm) caliber Browning M2/ANs in remote controlled turrets
• 2 x .50 in and 1× 20 mm M2 cannon in tail position (the cannon was eventually removed as it proved unreliable in service )
• B-29B-BW - All armament and sighting equipment removed except for tail position; initially 2 x .50 in M2/AN and 1× 20 mm M2 cannon, later 3 x 2 x .50 in M2/AN with APG-15 gun-laying radar fitted as standard.
• Bombs:- 20,000 lb (9,000 kg) standard loadout

X-43A MISSION PROFILE (Seminar Hyperplanes)

Mission profile diagram of X-43A test flight released by NASA
X-43A released from B-52

The aim of NASA was to air launch the hyperplane assembly with the booster rocket.The mission was to air launch the hyperplane at 40,000ft with the help of a B-52B ( used as a heavy bomber by USAF ).The hyper plane assembly was carried under the wings of B-52.On 27 March B-52 took off from Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave desert, California.It took 20 minutes for the B-52 to get to the launch zone at 40,000ft ( about 12km ) altitude and the booster rocket ( first stage of a Pegasus booster rocket ) was ignited at this altitude.This altitude was important to ensure that the X-43's initial velocity would be sufficiently high, about Mach 5, so that its engine may function properly.

After the ignition the rocket would assent and take the vehicle to a height of about 95,000ft (about 31km) and the payload (hyper plane) was released with ultimate precision.By this time the hyperplane had already achieved enough velocity to compress the air and start the scramjet engine.Here the fuel was injected and the vehicle flew at a speed of about Mach 7.7 ( about 7.7 times speed of sound ) for about 10 seconds.This created a world record for the maximum speed for a non rocket propelled aircraft ( jet propelled).

The non powered descent which was about 6 minutes, was also significant as the sensors on the vehicle transmitted important data before sinking into Pacific ocean.The vehicle completed a total flight of 650 km. The mission profile diagram released by NASA is shown above.The mission provided some important data which would pave way for the development of faster variants of hyper planes.

CONSTRUCTION OF X-43 (Seminar Hyperplane)

Construction of X-43A (A diagram showing X-43A assembled with Pegasus booster rocket)

So far usable hyper planes are not constructed.X-43A is a scaled down small model of a hyperplane.Its construction is shown in the figure.This is only an experimental model.

7. X-43A Hyperplane (Seminar Hyperplanes)

Three views diagram of X-43A Hyperplane

It will be the first time that a non-rocket propelled; air-breathing engine has powered a vehicle in flight at hypersonic speeds, or more than five times the speed of sound. An aircraft moving at Mach 5 would travel about one mile per second or about 3,600 mph at sea level, far faster than any air-breathing aircraft has ever flown.

Unlike a rocket that carries its own oxygen for combustion, the X-43A's scramjet-short for supersonic-combustion ramjet-scoops air from the atmosphere, making the aircraft lighter, which enables it to carry heavier payloads. The hydrogen-fueled aircraft has a wingspan of approximately five feet, measures 12 feet long and weighs about 2,800 pounds. The first unpiloted X-43A and its Pegasus booster rocket will be air-launched from a B-52 from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards, Calif. The booster will accelerate the X-43A to Mach 7 at approximately 95,000 feet. At booster burnout, the X-43 will separate from the booster and fly under its own power on a pre-programmed flight path. The NASA Hyper-X Program's development and flight testing of the X-43 vehicle is conducted jointly by Dryden and the Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va.

"The Hyper-X Program and the X-43A Flight Project have forged a very fruitful partnership and national asset," said Joel Sitz, Dryden's X-43 project manager. "What the country is witnessing is the re-birth of hypersonics. "After a successful X-43A mission, the 'brain trust' will exist to move forward with future propulsion- research vehicles that will ultimately result in more efficient space access vehicles," Sitz added.

"The Hyper-X program takes what we've been doing for the last 40 years in wind tunnel research to flight. Flight is reality," said Vince Rausch, Hyper-X program manager at Langley. "The program is structured around the scramjet engine and should be a major leap forward in the national capability for access to space. The country is looking for safer, more flexible, less expensive ways to get to space, and that's what the scramjet engine would bring us."

Scramjet technology could also allow more traditional aircraft-like operations of launch vehicles, with horizontal take-off, landing and servicing, which could greatly reduce operational cost and time between flights. Three X-43A flights are planned; the first two will fly at Mach 7 and the third at Mach 10. Valuable performance data will be relayed electronically to Dryden and Langley. Each experimental aircraft will fly once in the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division Sea Range off the southern coast of California and impact into the Pacific Ocean.

Like the comparatively slower ramjet counterpart, the scramjet has a simple mechanical design with no moving parts. However, scramjet combustion occurs at supersonic air speeds in the engine. Rather than using a rotating compressor like a turbojet engine, the forward velocity and vehicle aerodynamic design compress air into the engine. There, fuel, usually hydrogen, is injected and the expanding hot gases from combustion accelerate the exhaust air and create thrust. In the case of X-43, the thrust will propel the vehicle at hypersonic speeds up to Mach 10. The first free-flight test will be approximately three weeks after an upcoming captive-carry flight, where the B-52 flies with the X-43A "stack" to the test range for a series of flight systems tests. Following the first series of X-43A hypersonic flights, the next step is an expanded hypersonics research ground and flight program currently in place as part of the Advanced Space Transportation Program, which is led by the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.