Skywatch: ‘X-48 — Now that's more like it!’
Skywatch: ‘X-48 — Now that's more like it!’
By: Dale Hawkins Tehachapi News Columnist
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Posted by editor Tue Nov 30, 1999 00:00:00 PST
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In the development of technology, there is a predictable pattern to the development of that technology. First, there is a revolutionary event that enables the new technology. Then there is a period of years in which the major facets of the technology are researched until the science behind the technology work is well understood. (This is contrary to the belief that advances in pure science lead to new technologies; it's often the other way around.)
Once the fundamentals are understood, there begins a period of rapid development, expanding the technology in profound ways. Finally, the technology has reaches a level of optimization in which further improvements are relatively minor. The technology has then reached the “mature stage.” It will remain in this stage with nothing more than small, incremental progress, until another revolutionary innovation restarts the development cycle.
The development of aviation has been a textbook example of this development process. In the early 1900s, the Wright brothers, as well as others, provided the revolutionary impulse that literally got aviation off the ground. For the next few years, many innovative designs were explored. Trial and error — often costing heroic lives — was the most productive means of making progress. Slowly, the collective understanding of the physics of flight steadily progressed.
World War I created a new demand for aircraft, fueling development of all kinds — from balloons and airships to bombers and fighter aircraft. This development continued between the world wars. By the time World War II was underway, we had the B-17, DC-3/C-47, and P-40 with the B-29 and jets on the drawing boards. Our allies and adversaries had comparable aircraft.
Less than ten years later, jet aircraft were well into development. The first Boeing 707 flew in 1954, only half-a-century after the Wright brother's first flight. Fighters were making Mach 2 and a few years later the SR-71 Blackbird was routinely doing Mach 3.
At this point, the development curve began to level off. The hottest aircraft in the world is still the SR-71. Airliners began to look alike and still do. You really have to know your aircraft to tell the difference between a 1954 Boeing 707 and a 2007 Airbus 340. They both have a tube for a fuselage, swept-back wings with flaps, speed brakes and slats; four engines mounted on pylons under the wings, and the same type of tail.
Their performance specifications aren't all that different, either. Both travel a bit below the speed of sound, fly 35,000 to 45,000 feet high, and can carry about the same load. The newer aircraft need shorter runways, consume less fuel and make less noise. But that's not much change for fifty years.
Those of us who grew up on 2001: A Space Odyssey and the Thunderbirds are far from impressed with the current state of aerospace development. We are well into the 21st Century. By now, we should be able to get from a major “aerospaceport” to any other place on earth in two hours or less. With airlines serving lousy box lunches and charging for movies with terrible audio and video, even two hours taxes my patience. It's high time we took that next revolutionary step that will really make the 707 obsolete.
Enter the X-48, currently being tested down the hill at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base. Now that's kind of ship I'm talking about! This ship has speed written all over it. It's been over at Edwards undergoing unmanned flight tests. The full-scale ship is to be 240-feet wide and weight 500 tons. (A 707 is about 100 tons.)
Development isn't happening fast enough for me. We're told to expect it to first appear as a military transport in about fifteen years — 2022 — and it will still be subsonic. But at least it has the right look! I can only hope that supersonic airliners will follow.
Manned Space Watch - Endeavor readies for another construction trip to the Station
Endeavor is preparing for an early August launch to Space Station Alpha where her crew will add a new truss.
Space Probe Watch - It's 'hurry up and wait' for the Dawn space probe
The launch of space probe Dawn has been set back until September due to a potential traffic jam at that launch pad. NASA has decided to launch the Phoenix Mars Lander mission in early August first and says that the delay will not impact Dawn's mission to visit asteroids Vesta in 2011 and Ceres in 2015.
Night Sky Watch
With the approach of a full moon on Sunday, the moon will dominate our night sky this week. The sky is expected to be clear all week.
The Delta Aquarid Meteor Shower peaks on Saturday, but the nearly full moon will make for a disappointing display. Standby for the August Perseid Shower!
Venus reached its maximum brilliance on July 12 and is starting to lose some of its luster as it moves closer to the sun (from our viewpoint). Venus is only a slender crescent now, yet is still a dazzling jewel in the evening sky. Saturn lies nearby in the western evening sky, providing a nice contrast. Jupiter also presents a fine display high in the south.
Sunrise/Sunset (PDT)
5:58 a.m./8:02 p.m.
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