OVERVIEW NASA’s experimental scramjet flight vehicle, the X-43, defies the current standard of jet engines. Instead of carrying the oxygen required for combustion, the supersonic combustion ramjet, or scramjet, has the potential to revolutionize space travel as the first implementation of an air-breathing ramjet engine. In November 2004, a modified Pegasus XL launch vehicle provided by Orbital Sciences Corp carried the X-43 to its supersonic ignition speed and, after separation from the booster rocket, the X-43 vehicle accelerated to a record-breaking speed of close to Mach 10. ATA provided a wide variety of support to Orbital on the X-43/Hyper-X program. Initially contracted to perform aeroelastic stability analysis for the launch vehicle, ATA’s role expanded to include test, test

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