X-43A Record officially recognised.

[flynn]

Story from the BBC<br /><br /><b>Guinness recognises jet record</b><br /><br />The Guinness Book of Records has officially recognised the world speed record set by Nasa's X-43A hypersonic aircraft earlier this year. <br />The 3.6m-long scramjet achieved Mach 6.83 - nearly seven times the speed of sound - in a flight on 27 March. <br /><br />The record is set to be included in the 2006 Guinness World Records book. <br /><br />But the record may not stand for long, because another X-43A flight in October aims to smash it by flying to Mach 10 - 10 times the speed of sound. <br /><br />Lower costs <br /><br />In the March flight, the unmanned experimental craft was boosted to an altitude of 29,000m (95,000ft) by a rocket launched beneath an aircraft. <br /><br />It then burned its engine for around 11 seconds during a flight over the Pacific Ocean. <br /><br />Scramjets burn hydrogen as fuel but take their oxygen from the air, which is forced into the engine at very high speed. <br /><br />In contrast, rocket engines have to carry their own source of oxygen in heavy tanks. <br /><br />Scramjet technology could lead to single-stage-to-orbit space vehicles - spacecraft that fly into space in one piece. This would substantially reduce costs in the space delivery business and - eventually - the prices we pay for all our telecommunications. <br /><br />All shapes and types <br /><br />The X-43A flight easily broke the world speed record for an air-breathing engine aircraft. The previous known record was held by a ramjet-powered missile, which achieved slightly more than Mach 5. <br /><br />The highest speed attained by a rocket-powered plane, Nasa's X-15 aircraft, was Mach 6.7. The fastest air-breathing, manned vehicle, the SR-71 "Blackbird" spy plane, achieved slightly more than Mach 3.2. <br /><br />Commercial airliners fly just below Mach 1 (1,194km/h or 741mph). <br /><br />The term scramjet stands for supersonic combustion ramjet.<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#800080">"All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring" - <strong>Chuck Palahniuk</strong>.</font> </div>