Don Nolan-Proxmire
Headquarters, Washington, DC                 October 9, 1996
(Phone:  202/358-1983)

Keith Henry
Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA 
(Phone:  804/864-6120)

Fred Brown
Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA
(Phone:  805/258-2663)

RELEASE:  96-203

NASA SEEKS INDUSTRY PROPOSALS FOR 
HYPERSONIC FLIGHT RESEARCH VEHICLES

        NASA is poised to begin a multi-year hypersonic flight-
test program by requesting proposals from industry for the 
fabrication of four unpiloted research aircraft that will fly 
up to ten times the speed of sound.  The contract award is 
scheduled for early 1997.

        The selected contractor will be responsible for 
fabrication and flight-test support of the hypersonic 
experimental research vehicles to be called "Hyper-X."  Each of 
the four vehicles will be approximately 12 feet long with a 
wing span of about five feet. Hypersonic speed is defined as 
above Mach 5, which is equivalent to about one mile-per-second, 
or approximately 3,600 miles per hour at sea level.

        The Hyper-X Phase I program  -- an agency-wide effort 
to address one of the greatest aeronautical research challenges 
-- is conducted jointly by NASA's Langley Research Center, 
Hampton, VA, and NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, 
CA.  Program managers hope to demonstrate technology that could 
ultimately be applied in vehicle types from hypersonic aircraft 
to reusable space launchers.  

        "It's time to fly.  This exciting, challenging, ground 
and flight research program will significantly expand the 
boundaries of air-breathing flight for the first time ever, by 
flying a scramjet-powered aircraft at hypersonic speeds," said 
Vince Rausch, the Hyper-X Phase I program manager.

        The first Hyper-X unpiloted, hypersonic, flight-
research vehicle is scheduled to fly at Mach 7 in 1998. This is 
far faster than any air-breathing aircraft have ever flown.  
The world's fastest air-breathing aircraft, the SR-71, cruises 
slightly above Mach 3.  The highest speed attained by NASA's 
rocket-powered X-15 was Mach 6.7.  A rocket carries its own 
oxygen for combustion; an air-breathing aircraft burns oxygen 
in air scooped from the atmosphere.  Because of this, air-
breathing hypersonic vehicles should carry more cargo/payload 
than equivalent rocket-powered systems.

        The goal of the Hyper-X program is to validate key 
propulsion and related technologies for air-breathing 
hypersonic aircraft.  Heading the list is the demonstration of 
a ramjet/scramjet engine, followed by validation of design 
tools and methods for air-breathing hypersonic vehicles.  

        A ramjet operates by subsonic combustion of fuel in a 
stream of air compressed by the forward speed of the aircraft 
itself; as opposed to a normal jet engine, in which the 
compressor section (the fan blades) compresses the air.  The 
fuel for Hyper-X will be hydrogen.

        A scramjet (supersonic-combustion ramjet) is a ramjet 
engine in which the airflow through the whole engine remains 
supersonic.  Scramjet technology is challenging because only 
limited testing can be performed in ground facilities.  Long 
duration, full-scale testing requires flight test speeds above 
Mach 8.  Hyper-X will build knowledge, confidence and a 
technology bridge to very high Mach number flight.

        Hyper-X will ride on the first stage of a Pegasus 
booster rocket, which will be launched by the Dryden 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.  

        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 Test Range off the coast of southern California.

        Vehicle and engine ground tests and analyses will be 
performed prior to each flight in order to compare with flight 
and ground test results.  In addition, the Hyper-X Mach 7 
vehicle will first be tested in Langley's eight-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.

                            -end-

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