Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 132
Book Description
Hypersonics Before the Shuttle: A Concise History of the X-15 Research Airplane
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 132
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 132
Book Description
Hypersonics Before the Shuttle
Author: World Spaceflight News
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781980782186
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 159
Book Description
This official NASA history document provides a comprehensive, readable history of the famous X-15 program. The introduction states: "Although it is usually heralded as the most productive flight research program ever undertaken, no serious history has been assembled to capture its design, development, operations, and lessons. This monograph is the first step towards that history. Not that a great deal has not previously been written about the X-15, because it has. But most of it has been limited to specific aspects of the program; pilot's stories, experiments, lessons-learned, etc. But with the exception of Robert S. Houston's history published by the Wright Air Development Center in 1958, and later included in the Air Force History Office's Hypersonic Revolution, no one has attempted to tell the entire story. And the WADC history is taken entirely from the Air Force perspective, with small mention of the other contributors. In 1954 the X-1 series had just broken Mach 2.5. The aircraft that would become the X-15 was being designed to attain Mach 6, and to fly at the edges of space. It would be accomplished without the use of digital computers, video teleconferencing, the internet, or email. It would, however, come at a terrible financial cost-over 30 times the original estimate. The X-15 would ultimately exceed all of its original performance goals. Instead of Mach 6 and 250,000 feet, the program would record Mach 6.7 and 354,200 feet. And compared against other research (and even operational) aircraft of the era, the X-15 was remarkably safe. Several pilots would get banged up; Jack McKay seriously so, although he would return from his injuries to fly 22 more X-15 flights. Tragically, Major Michael J. Adams would be killed on Flight 191, the only fatality of the program. Unfortunately due to the absence of a subsequent hypersonic mission, aeronautical applications of X-15 technology have been few. Given the major advances in materials and computer technology in the 30 years since the end of the flight research program, it is unlikely that many of the actual hardware lessons are still applicable. That being said, the lessons learned from hypersonic modeling, simulation, and the insight gained by being able to evaluate actual X-15 flight research against wind tunnel and predicted results, greatly expanded the confidence of researchers. This allowed the development of Space Shuttle to proceed much smoother than would otherwise have been possible. In space, however, the X-15 contributed to both Apollo and Space Shuttle. It is interesting to note that when the X-15 was conceived, there were many that believed its space-oriented aspects should be removed from the program since human space travel was postulated to be many decades in the future. Perhaps the major contribution was the final elimination of a spray-on ablator as a possible thermal protection system for Space Shuttle. This would likely have happened in any case as the ceramic tiles and metal shingles were further developed, but the operational problems encountered with the (admittedly brief) experience on X-15A-2 hastened the departure of the ablators." Contents: CHAPTER 1 - The Genesis of a Research Airplane * CHAPTER 2 - X-15 Design and Development * CHAPTER 3 - The Flight Research Program * CHAPTER 4 - The Legacy of the X-15
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781980782186
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 159
Book Description
This official NASA history document provides a comprehensive, readable history of the famous X-15 program. The introduction states: "Although it is usually heralded as the most productive flight research program ever undertaken, no serious history has been assembled to capture its design, development, operations, and lessons. This monograph is the first step towards that history. Not that a great deal has not previously been written about the X-15, because it has. But most of it has been limited to specific aspects of the program; pilot's stories, experiments, lessons-learned, etc. But with the exception of Robert S. Houston's history published by the Wright Air Development Center in 1958, and later included in the Air Force History Office's Hypersonic Revolution, no one has attempted to tell the entire story. And the WADC history is taken entirely from the Air Force perspective, with small mention of the other contributors. In 1954 the X-1 series had just broken Mach 2.5. The aircraft that would become the X-15 was being designed to attain Mach 6, and to fly at the edges of space. It would be accomplished without the use of digital computers, video teleconferencing, the internet, or email. It would, however, come at a terrible financial cost-over 30 times the original estimate. The X-15 would ultimately exceed all of its original performance goals. Instead of Mach 6 and 250,000 feet, the program would record Mach 6.7 and 354,200 feet. And compared against other research (and even operational) aircraft of the era, the X-15 was remarkably safe. Several pilots would get banged up; Jack McKay seriously so, although he would return from his injuries to fly 22 more X-15 flights. Tragically, Major Michael J. Adams would be killed on Flight 191, the only fatality of the program. Unfortunately due to the absence of a subsequent hypersonic mission, aeronautical applications of X-15 technology have been few. Given the major advances in materials and computer technology in the 30 years since the end of the flight research program, it is unlikely that many of the actual hardware lessons are still applicable. That being said, the lessons learned from hypersonic modeling, simulation, and the insight gained by being able to evaluate actual X-15 flight research against wind tunnel and predicted results, greatly expanded the confidence of researchers. This allowed the development of Space Shuttle to proceed much smoother than would otherwise have been possible. In space, however, the X-15 contributed to both Apollo and Space Shuttle. It is interesting to note that when the X-15 was conceived, there were many that believed its space-oriented aspects should be removed from the program since human space travel was postulated to be many decades in the future. Perhaps the major contribution was the final elimination of a spray-on ablator as a possible thermal protection system for Space Shuttle. This would likely have happened in any case as the ceramic tiles and metal shingles were further developed, but the operational problems encountered with the (admittedly brief) experience on X-15A-2 hastened the departure of the ablators." Contents: CHAPTER 1 - The Genesis of a Research Airplane * CHAPTER 2 - X-15 Design and Development * CHAPTER 3 - The Flight Research Program * CHAPTER 4 - The Legacy of the X-15
Hypersonics Before the Shuttle
Author: Dennis R. Jenkins
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Electronic government information
Languages : en
Pages : 132
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Electronic government information
Languages : en
Pages : 132
Book Description
The Wind and Beyond: The ascent of the airplane
Author: James R. Hansen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Aerodynamics
Languages : en
Pages : 760
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Aerodynamics
Languages : en
Pages : 760
Book Description
The Wind and Beyond
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Aerodynamics
Languages : en
Pages : 776
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Aerodynamics
Languages : en
Pages : 776
Book Description
The Wind and Beyond
Author: James R. Hansen
Publisher: www.Militarybookshop.CompanyUK
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 776
Book Description
Volume 1 relates the story of the invention of the airplane by the Wright brothers and the creation of the original aeronautical research establishment in the United States.
Publisher: www.Militarybookshop.CompanyUK
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 776
Book Description
Volume 1 relates the story of the invention of the airplane by the Wright brothers and the creation of the original aeronautical research establishment in the United States.
NASA's Contributions to Aeronautics: Flight environment, operations, flight testing, and research
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Aeronautics
Languages : en
Pages : 1064
Book Description
Two-volume collection of case studies on aspects of NACA-NASA research by noted engineers, airmen, historians, museum curators, journalists, and independent scholars. Explores various aspects of how NACA-NASA research took aeronautics from the subsonic to the hypersonic era.-publisher description.
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Aeronautics
Languages : en
Pages : 1064
Book Description
Two-volume collection of case studies on aspects of NACA-NASA research by noted engineers, airmen, historians, museum curators, journalists, and independent scholars. Explores various aspects of how NACA-NASA research took aeronautics from the subsonic to the hypersonic era.-publisher description.
Facing the Heat Barrier
Author: T.A. Heppenheimer
Publisher: Courier Dover Publications
ISBN: 0486834514
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 355
Book Description
This volume from The NASA History Series presents an overview of the science of hypersonics, the study of flight at speeds at which the physics of flows is dominated by aerodynamic heating. The survey begins during the years immediately following World War II, with the first steps in hypersonic research: the development of missile nose cones and the X-15; the earliest concepts of hypersonic propulsion; and the origin of the scramjet engine. Next, it addresses the re-entry problem, which came to the forefront during the mid-1950s, showing how work in this area supported the manned space program and contributed to the development of the orbital shuttle. Subsequent chapters explore the fading of scramjet studies and the rise of the National Aerospace Plane (NASP) program of 1985–95, which sought to lay groundwork for single-stage vehicles. The program's ultimate shortcomings — in terms of aerodynamics, propulsion, and materials — are discussed, and the book concludes with a look at hypersonics in the post-NASP era, including the development of the X-33 and X-34 launch vehicles, further uses for scramjets, and advances in fluid mechanics. Clearly, ongoing research in hypersonics has yet to reach its full potential, and readers with an interest in aeronautics and astronautics will find this book a fascinating exploration of the field's history and future.
Publisher: Courier Dover Publications
ISBN: 0486834514
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 355
Book Description
This volume from The NASA History Series presents an overview of the science of hypersonics, the study of flight at speeds at which the physics of flows is dominated by aerodynamic heating. The survey begins during the years immediately following World War II, with the first steps in hypersonic research: the development of missile nose cones and the X-15; the earliest concepts of hypersonic propulsion; and the origin of the scramjet engine. Next, it addresses the re-entry problem, which came to the forefront during the mid-1950s, showing how work in this area supported the manned space program and contributed to the development of the orbital shuttle. Subsequent chapters explore the fading of scramjet studies and the rise of the National Aerospace Plane (NASP) program of 1985–95, which sought to lay groundwork for single-stage vehicles. The program's ultimate shortcomings — in terms of aerodynamics, propulsion, and materials — are discussed, and the book concludes with a look at hypersonics in the post-NASP era, including the development of the X-33 and X-34 launch vehicles, further uses for scramjets, and advances in fluid mechanics. Clearly, ongoing research in hypersonics has yet to reach its full potential, and readers with an interest in aeronautics and astronautics will find this book a fascinating exploration of the field's history and future.
NASA's First A
Author: Robert G. Ferguson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Aeronautics
Languages : en
Pages : 312
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Aeronautics
Languages : en
Pages : 312
Book Description
NASA's Contributions to Aeronautics, Volume 2, Flight Environment ..., NASA/SP-2010-570-Vol 2, 2010, *
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 1070
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 1070
Book Description