NASA X-43A Hyper-X Hypersonic Scramjet Research Aircraft Family
NASA's X-43A Hyper-X was an uncrewed hypersonic research-aircraft family built for flight testing of air-breathing scramjet propulsion. The three small lifting-body vehicles were accelerated by modified Pegasus boosters and released from a NASA B-52B; the successful 2004 free flights established scramjet-powered aircraft flight at roughly Mach 7 and Mach 9.6.
Follow this vehicle family
Alerts for directly linked future launches and major activity.
Identity
- Aliases
- X-43ANASA X-43Hyper-XHyper X research aircraft
- Family Name
- NASA X-43A Hyper-X
- Full Name
- NASA X-43A Hyper-X Hypersonic Scramjet Research Aircraft Family
- Roles
- researchexperimentaltechnology_demonstrator
- Status
- retired
- Type
- aircraft
Details
- Aircraft Specs
- Configuration
- fixed_wing
- Description
- NASA's X-43A Hyper-X was an uncrewed hypersonic research-aircraft family built for flight testing of air-breathing scramjet propulsion. The three small lifting-body vehicles were accelerated by modified Pegasus boosters and released from a NASA B-52B; the successful 2004 free flights established scramjet-powered aircraft flight at roughly Mach 7 and Mach 9.6.
- First Flight Year
- 2,004
Links
- Official Url
- https://www.nasa.gov/reference/x-43a/
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- August 7, 2026 at 09:33:31 UTC
- Updated Time
- August 7, 2026 at 09:33:31 UTC