Puneet Varma (Editor)

NASA Hyper III

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Top speed
  
277 km/h

Length
  
9.75 m

Manufacturer
  
NASA

Wingspan
  
4.57 m

First flight
  
December 12, 1969

Designer
  
R. Dale Reed

NASA Hyper III HyperIII ECN2301 Hyper III on ramp front view

The NASA Hyper III was an American unpowered full-scale lifting body remotely piloted vehicle designed and built at the NASA Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

Contents

NASA Hyper III Fleet ECN1880 Hyper III and M2F2 models on lakebed with radio

Design and development

NASA Hyper III ch8

The Hyper III was designed to help in the M2 lifting body program, it had a flat bottom and sides, and a simple straight wing with no control surfaces that was designed to simulate a pop-out wing that had been proposed for a re-entry vehicle. The Hyper III had twin fins and rudders canted at 40° from the vertical, and hinged elevons on the horizontal surface. The landing gear was a fixed tricycle type, using spring steel legs from a Cessna aircraft. It was fitted with an emergency parachute system and controlled by 5-channel radio link; instrument data was downlinked using a 12-channel radio.

NASA Hyper III NASA Hyper III

On 12 December 1969 the Hyper III was launched from a helicopter at 10,000 feet. It glided 5 km, turned round, came back and landed. After the three-minute flight it was not flown again as the Center cancelled the program.

Specifications

Data from Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1973-74

General characteristics

NASA Hyper III httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

  • Length: 32 ft 0 in (9.75 m)
  • Wingspan: 15 ft 0 in (4.57 m)
  • Height: 7 ft 6 in (2.29 m)
  • Wing area: 35.41 ft2 (3.29 m2)
  • Empty weight: 950 lb (431 kg)
  • Gross weight: 950 lb (431 kg)

    • Performance

    NASA Hyper III HyperIII E20464 Hyper III on ramp with singlepiece pivot wing

  • Maximum speed: 173 mph (277 km/h)
  • Stall speed: 69 mph (111 km/h)
  • Range: 11 miles (18 km)
  • Service ceiling: 12000 ft (3660 m)

    • NASA Hyper III Hyper III Remotely Piloted Research Vehicle NASA

    References

    NASA Hyper III Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA