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The Process Involved in Aircraft Design
Drawing of the Hyper-X aircraft model showing the airflow around it

The information in this video was accurate as of the original publication date.

 Audience: Educators and Students
Grades: 5-8
Year: 2001


This NASA video segment explores how scientists at NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va., design and test the Hyper-X aircraft. The Hyper-X is an experimental airplane designed to travel at Mach 10. Viewers learn that although engineers designed the Hyper-X with a slender body, a triangular-shaped tip was added to provide turbulent flow of air around the scramjet engine. Viewers also learn that engineers perform wind tunnel tests to measure an airplane's performance, evaluate the outcomes and make modifications if necessary. A demonstration of an extinguished candle illustrates the difference between laminar and turbulent air flow.

The Process Involved in Aircraft Design
Duration: 5 minutes 35 seconds
> View QuickTime [18MB]


This video clip is part of the NASA CONNECT™: Geometry and Algebra: The Future Flight Equation DVD that may be ordered from the Central Operation of Resources for Educators, or CORE  →.


Other video learning clips in this series:
NASA's Experimental Plane: What It Is and What It Does
Hands-on Aircraft Design Activity
Preparing for Flight: Testing the Hyper-X
Plane Math Online Activity
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