In a press release, NASA has announced that their experimental X-43A research vehicle will fly on Saturday, March 27. The flight is part of the Hyper-X program, a research effort to demonstrate alternate propulsion technologies for access to space and high-speed flight within the atmosphere.

The unpiloted 12-foot-long vehicle is part aircraft and part spacecraft, utilizing a scramjet (supersonic-combustion ramjet), in which the flow of air through the engine remains supersonic for optimum engine efficiency and vehicle speed. It will be dropped from a B-52 aircraft, boosted to nearly 100,000 feet by a rocket and released off the coast of southern California. It will fly under its own power at approximately 5,000 mph.

The first X-43A vehicle was flown on June 2, 2001, but was lost moments after release from the B-52 when it deviated from its flight path and was deliberately destroyed.

Update [2004-3-27 17:2:54 by Drog]: Success!