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NASA's hypersonic flight demonstrator,

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the X-43A, is designed to soar through

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the sky at rocket speeds

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with a non-rocket, air breathing scramjet engine.

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X-43 engine technologies promise to increase

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payload capacity by eliminating the heavy oxygen tanks

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that rockets carry.

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The air-breathing propulsion system

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works by taking oxygen from

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the atmosphere for combustion.

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These 12-foot-long, unpiloted,

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X-43A research aircraft have been

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built in support of NASA's Hyper-X
program.

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Designed to explore alternate technologies

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for space access.

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Each X-43A vehicle is designed to fly once.

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This mission will fly at Mach 7

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or seven times the speed of sound.

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It will be the first time an air breathing engine

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has been integrated and flown on an aircraft.

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Langley is the lead NASA center

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for the Hyper-X program

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and is responsible for hypersonic technology development.

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NASA Dryden Flight Research Center

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in Edwards, California is responsible

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for flight research and will be the flight location.

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Well, the X-43A program you could think of

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as a first step toward getting a new capability

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for space access for the country.

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By using an air-breathing engine,

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the supersonic combustion ramjet

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that powers the X-43A

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and what we're really trying to validate

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in flight on our next flight

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This gives us the opportunity to build a vehicle

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that would not have to carry the heavy

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oxidizer onboard but would use the

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oxygen in the air

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while it was flying in the atmosphere.

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It could give us an airplane that could operate

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like an airplane and fly to space

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either a single or two stage system.

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So, we're very excited about the capability

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It could give the nation in the future