back to article X-51A hydrocarb scramjet flames out in second test

The quest for practical hypersonic aircraft (or missiles, if that's what you like) suffered another setback on Monday when the second X-51A hydrocarbon-burning scramjet test vehicle had its engine flame go out above the Pacific and was unable to restart. An X-51A scramjet attached to the wing of a B-52 bomber ready for launch …

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  1. NoneSuch Silver badge
    Joke

    The hamster running on the wheel...

    ...jumped over to the water tube to have a quick drink.

  2. Alex King
    Headmaster

    Where do these people learn to write?

    For anyone looking for a translation of the bit in bold. How about:

    Our test plane's engine didn't start properly when we dropped it from a plane today, even when we pointed it in a better direction, so we let it fall into the sea in a controlled way.

    1. Francis Vaughan

      Unstart

      The writing is a bit worse than this. The term "unstart" does not refer the the engine running, but to the positioning of the shockwave in the inlet. If the position of the shockwave is correct the inlet is "started," if the shockwave is ejected or fails to fall in the right position the inlet "unstarts". The attempt to change attitude of the craft was an attempt to make the shockwave sit correctly and thus "restart." This would then allow the engine to ignite the supersonic stream. Ignition has "starting" as a precondition, rather than a consequence. The writing is actually perfectly good, just written at the the wrong level and allowed to escape from captivity in a manner that makes it essentially incomprehensible.

      1. Mark 65

        Re:Unstart

        "when the vehicle experienced an inlet un-start."

        Sounds like something you may encounter after a night on the beer (precise interpretation left to the reader).

      2. TeeCee Gold badge
        Headmaster

        Re: Unstart

        'If the position of the shockwave is correct the inlet is "started,".....'

        Gosh really? How remiss of the English language not to have already provided a word to indicate the opposite state to "started"......

        Anyone?........Anyone?.......Bueller?.........

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Unstart != Stall, Unstart != Stop

          So no, your remark is not particularly useful.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Headmaster

      @Alex King

      'Inlet un-start' sounds like rubbish, but it is a genuine technical term which describes what went wrong.

      https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Lockheed_SR-71_Blackbird#Air_inlets

      I am with you on the last paragraph though, it just seems to be a long winded way of saying 'and then it fell in the sea.'

      1. JDC

        "fell into the sea"

        Not quite the same, it flew in a controlled glide into the sea - fell implies a complete lack of control over the trajectory.

  3. ravenviz Silver badge
    Unhappy

    "For those uninterested in weapons"

    Haven't we got enough weapons already?

    1. Dr. Mouse
      Joke

      Weapons are like socks.

      You can NEVER have too many.

      1. defiler

        Weapons like socks?

        You end up with lots of odd ones?

        1. Nexox Enigma

          To be fair...

          I haven't got any matching pair(s) of weapons... Still a few mated socks hanging around though... for now.

          1. Bobster

            Re: To be fair...

            There's tons of odd mines laying around ...

  4. Scott Wheeler

    JP-7?

    It seems unlikely that it was burning JP-7. That fuel was designed for the A12 / SR71, and we were told that the last of it had been burned off to dispose of it last year.

  5. TeeCee Gold badge
    Headmaster

    "un-start"?

    UN-START????

    Meanwhile, in the rest of the world, engines will continue to stop, stall, fail, die, flame out.....hell, it's not like there's a shortage of terms here.

    I really can't understand this. Is that the Yanks all have piss-poor vocabularies and are too lazy to look shit up or is it that they're prats?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Joke

      mmm

      maybe it was the alu-min-um thingy in the color centre circel area

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Big Brother

      Double plus ungood

      I think this is the icon you were looking for....

    3. Joe Cooper

      Un-good

      When y'all build a scramjet and it bones itself, you can describe it with any words you like, pardner.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Down

      Because...

      An unstart is not the same as a stall, fail, death or flameout.

      From an aeronautical/propulsion standpoint anyway.

  6. Joey
    Thumb Down

    transition

    "attempted to transition to JP7 fuel operation". It really annoys me when people use nouns as verbs - just like the verb 'to leverage'

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Flame

      Really annoyed

      You must be quite pleased it is only that which really annoys you. Some people are really annoyed by not having enough food to eat or having their homes destroyed by earthquakes. Presumably they are less bothered by language inconguities.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Headmaster

        @AC re:Rally annoyed

        I'm sure that people without food or homes are more than "really annoyed". If it were me, I'd probably be at least cross, or more likely angry, or even furious or livid.

        1. ravenviz Silver badge
          Trollface

          Re: @AC re:Rally annoyed

          In Britain we'd be "a little peckish".

        2. Marcus Aurelius
          Happy

          Re: Rally annoyed

          Would be rallycross!

      2. Adam West

        AC

        Then maybe they should post on a forum about it so people can make smartarse comments.

        Oh wait...

      3. Goat Jam
        Childcatcher

        Re: Really Annoyed

        Great, because some PC obsessed commentard has decreed that nobody can be really annoyed unless they are a starving third world peasant we should all just shut up.

        Is that it?

    2. Stratman

      title

      "It really annoys me when people use nouns as verbs - just like the verb 'to leverage' "

      According to Sam Goldwyn, "Any noun can be verbed"

      1. Mayhem

        Sam Goldwyn said that?

        in two words ... Im. Possible.

    3. Graham Dawson Silver badge
      Headmaster

      @joey

      You know how language works, right? Nouns derive rom verbs, verbs derive from nouns, both derive from everything else. It's what language does as it evolves. People coplainin about this are trying to prevent the very thing that made their language what it is in the first place.

      Single example from millions: hand. It is a verb (you hand a thing to a person) derived from the noun "hand", that wiggly thing you use to type. I have to hand a handy object, which I shall hand to you using my hand. The type of type I type is typical.

      In other words, shut up, you're making yourself look dumb.

  7. KevinLewis
    Mushroom

    All great...

    ..but when can I use it to get to and form un-work quicker?

  8. Tom 7

    Dont they read the Reg?

    They could have put in on of them there laser spark plug thingies you mentioned a few weeks ago.

  9. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Unhappy

    Another year, another attempt at scramjet action.

    I can see why some arch skeptics call it a scam jet.

    1. Goat Jam

      Didn't some boffins from the UQLD make a working scramjet

      with far less funding?

      I wonder what happened to that?

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Will someone please tell the scientists...

    ... that these Scramjets arn't "flying", they're just falling very very fast!!! :)

  11. Head
    FAIL

    Hmmm

    To: USA

    From: Australia

    Subject: Scram jets

    Yeah, you're doing it wrong.

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