Quote:
Originally posted by Undertoad
Spectacular failure. Well I guess this is why you start with an unmanned jet and kick off your experiments in the outback.
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It will be interesting to find out if this failure in fact had anything to do with the new design at all. It could well be that the propulsion or guidence systems for the booster rocket screwed the pooch. That latest scramjet test failure had the same problem ; the more conventional chemical rocket intended to get the scramjet up to its operating conditions failed.
I'm wondering if these recent failures aren't in part due to the fact that the rocket engineers of the 1960's and 1970's are all retiring, and there's few or no expereienced rocket engineers coming up behind them.
But, I say again, it's not an unmanned jet...it's really a glider. The aircraft model being tested has <b>no</b> engines of any kind.