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Australian Scramjet Launched

Posted by michael on from the lawn-dart dept.

CaptainAlbert writes: "The University of Queensland, Australia is reporting the (possible) success of their "HyShot" scramjet test. The BBC have got this covered too. Apparently, they're now poring over the data loggers, trying to figure out if it actually flew under its own power." We had a story about these guys a while back.

4 of 196 comments (clear)

  1. Scramjets are the way forward. by Anton+Anatopopov · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Since they are cheaper than their competition, and more environmentally friendly.

    My concern is whether there is actually a demand for supersonic flight, or whether the current conventional airliners represent the 'good enough' level of technology which means there is no incentive to replace them. The current state of the travel industry makes me think it will be a long time before we see a scramjet based airliner at JFK.

    In the meantime, the Europeans seem to be about to revive the Concorde. Its a bit annoying that we don't have anything to beat that. Maybe these superjumbos will be as impressive, but they won't be supersonic

  2. destructive testing by Alien54 · · Score: 3, Insightful
    I was at first suprised that the actual experiment took place just a few seconds before impact

    But it makes sense since it was the point in the flight where there is the highest speed and best chance of engine ignition

    but this also means the test engine is usually destroyed instead of being saved for the next test run

    --
    "It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
  3. Hey, Rocket Scientists... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful
    ... I've always wondered &ltHmmmmmm, rubing chin&gt

    - If the initial stage consumes so much fuel and the fuel to weight ratio is such a big deal in rocket science.

    - Why don't they launch rockets from under water using that submarine ICBM technology and leverage the floatation benefits for better performance?


    Then again maybe their is something to being a "rocket scientist" and I should stick to my knitting. I know the /. community is full of wanna-be rocket scientists like me so give me feedback.!

  4. Re:Russians first? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Having taken Russian in college and been exposed to their culture via instruction, as well as meeting many Russian citizens, I can tell you without a doubt that their culture as a whole has a much stronger academic tradition and reverence for knowledge than here in America. Being a thinker to them is an extremely honorable thing.
    So while their funding may be screwy limiting experimental progress, their theoreticians have always been top-notch. As an example, when Eastern Europe opened up to the West, we discovered that their theoretical research into computer science topics was at about the same level as the West's in terms of sophistication, even if their hardware was somewhat primitive. Another example would be the Mig-25 which the West ridiculed as being essentially plain steel welded together unlike our sophisticated titanium et al. fighters ... the Mig-25 was in the same speed class as the SR-71.