Kholod
Russian scramjet testbed for hypersonic flight research.
Kholod (Холод) is an experimental Russian hypersonic rocket that uses a scramjet engine and was designed to exceed Mach 6+. The prototype, built from a Soyuz TMKB with modified SA-5 Gammon missile components and liquid hydrogen, measures 12 m long and 750 mm in diameter. It became part of a joint CIAM/NASA project in the 1990s to study variable geometry ram/scramjet hybrids, with successful flights from the Sary Shagan test range in central Kazakhstan in 1998. The project contributed to later Russian hypersonic vehicles such as the Igla rocket craft and the Yu-71 boost-glide warhead, and its data supported development of NASA's X-43.
Quick Facts
- Length
- 12 m / 39 ft 4 in
- Diameter
- 750 mm / 2 ft 6 in
- Engine type
- Scramjet (dual-mode ramjet/scramjet)
- Test location
- Sary Shagan test range, central Kazakhstan
- Year of successful flights
- 1998
- Key alloy
- FeCrAl (steel, chromium, aluminum with chromium-nickel spray)
Facts from the source article.
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