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10,000mph hypersonic scramjets on the way
10,000mph hypersonic scramjets on the way | DVICE
Jet engines that might make it possible for passenger planes to someday travel at 10,000 mph will soon take to the air. Hypersonic scramjets have been in the works for years, but the Boeing X-51A demonstrator will contain the first scramjet that's actually mounted on board an aircraft. The X-51A is not really a plane but a missile, built to prove that a scramjet can actually work. Its first flight is set for this December.
If this research can make scramjets practical, they could fill a gap between jets and rockets. The fastest fighter jets can barely get to Mach 1.6, while the world's fastest jet, the now-decommissioned Air Force SR-71 Blackbird spy plane, zipped along at Mach 3.3. Rockets can go Mach 25, but they must carry tons of liquid oxygen to go that fast.
A scramjet can't go as fast as the space shuttle, but it can beat any jet handily, theoretically accelerating up to Mach 15. Don't be planning that trip from New York to L.A. in 45 minutes just yet, though, because this hypersonic technology has a long way to go before it'll find its way into passenger aircraft. Here's a small pic of the X-51A in the hangar, waiting for its debut:
10,000mph hypersonic scramjets on the way | DVICE
Jet engines that might make it possible for passenger planes to someday travel at 10,000 mph will soon take to the air. Hypersonic scramjets have been in the works for years, but the Boeing X-51A demonstrator will contain the first scramjet that's actually mounted on board an aircraft. The X-51A is not really a plane but a missile, built to prove that a scramjet can actually work. Its first flight is set for this December.
If this research can make scramjets practical, they could fill a gap between jets and rockets. The fastest fighter jets can barely get to Mach 1.6, while the world's fastest jet, the now-decommissioned Air Force SR-71 Blackbird spy plane, zipped along at Mach 3.3. Rockets can go Mach 25, but they must carry tons of liquid oxygen to go that fast.
A scramjet can't go as fast as the space shuttle, but it can beat any jet handily, theoretically accelerating up to Mach 15. Don't be planning that trip from New York to L.A. in 45 minutes just yet, though, because this hypersonic technology has a long way to go before it'll find its way into passenger aircraft. Here's a small pic of the X-51A in the hangar, waiting for its debut:
