NASA Hyper III

Hyper III
Role	Lifting-body remotely piloted vehicle
National origin	United States
Manufacturer	National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Designer	Dale Reed
First flight	12 December 1969
Primary user	NASA
Number built	1

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.^[1]

Design and development

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 flaps, ailerons or any control surfaces.^[1] The wing was designed to simulate a pop-out wing that had been proposed for a re-entry vehicle. It had twin fins and rudders canted at 40° from the vertical with hinged elevons on the horizontal surface.^[1] The landing gear was a fixed tricyle type, using spring steel legs from a Cessna aircraft.^[1] It was fitted with an emergency parachute system and the aircraft was controlled by 5-channel radio link, instrument data was down-linked using a 12-channel radio.^[1]

On the 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.^[1]

Specifications

Data from Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1973-74^[1]

General characteristics

• 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

• 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)

See also

• NASA M2-F1
  

Related lists

• List of NASA aircraft
• List of experimental aircraft
  

References

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Taylor 1973, p. 523

Bibliography

• Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1973-74. London, United Kingdom: Jane's Yearbooks. 1973. ISBN 0 354 00117 5. 

External links

• NASA Hyper III photo collection and additional information