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Scramjet Success in Australia
glengyron writes "Australia's ABC reports today that a University of Queensland team have successfully tested a supersonic scramjet (air-breathing supersonic combustion ramjet engine). Read more here or here. Great to see after previous problems. Does the future of air travel still include those breakfast egg-roll things?"
A diagram of the difference in design between a ramjet and a scramjet engine can be found here.
For more information, check out the HyShot homepage.
Little bit less of a press release, little bit more information including a better explanation of the flight profile at
http://www.mech.uq.edu.au/hyper/hyshot/
Looks like will have faster bombs, way before we have faster airliners ...
0 C: www.darpa.mil/body/NewsItems/pdf/hyfly.pdf+scramje t++Defense+Advanced+Research+Projects+&hl=en&ie=UT F-8
http://216.239.39.100/search?q=cache:MKgyf6-JQS
- Sam
Yes it was controlled, and yes it did crash land (Why should the two be exclusive?) The rocket has a ballistic trajectory, and the experiment is performed on the way back into the atmosphere (between 32km and 22km altitude), for about 4 seconds, you can work out the speed yourself. It then has about 10 seconds before it hits earth. When the payload of the last attempt was found, the nosecone was buried about 1 meter below ground, and it only flew upward for about 10 seconds. The current experiment goes upward for 5 minutes.
Suffice to say, that this is an unmanned experiment.
There was a joint flight experiment between NASA and CIAM (Central Institute of Aviation Motors, Moscow), in 1998. There were three tests. they were launched on modified Russian SA5 missiles. One failed outright. One tested the engine in subsonic mode, and the third did not achieve supersonic combustion in the engine.
I think that the outcome from these experiments could be summarised as that no working scramjet was flown. As a note though, the main objective was to prove the Hypersonic flying laboratory, "Kholod", which is a package with fuel and telemetry to attach to a rocket so that any experiment can be easily flown on a rocket. This package was successfully tested (ie fuel, power and telemetry were provided to the model)
Another route to what would seem to be the right page is here: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2002/07/item20020730140 728_1.htm
"Donuts on a rope" are caused by shock waves in the stream of a jet engine; they'll show up in nearly any high-output jet engine, much less one meant for supersonic travel.
If you're thinking of the neat light display behind the engines of a SR-71 Blackhawk, those engines are indeed for supersonic flight -- but they aren't ramjets. They're turbofans. They are configurable, though; the cone on front adjusts the position of a shockwave that slows the air down to the point where it will work in that type of engine.
The difference is that a scramjet, having no turbine and only basic moving parts, can operate at a much higher velocity than a turbojet. The SR-71 was limited to the supersonic realm, while a scramjet-powered vehicle can reach hypersonic speeds, above Mach 10.
The hyperlink into Mama appears to be broken, try this one instead.
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
"Donuts on a rope" HAS been explained. It is produced by PDW (Pulse Detonation Wave) engines. What hasn't been explained is what is making them, as there are no PDW engines officially in use yet. Much speculation is that the ultra-secret US spy plane Aurora is what's creating these. Some spy plane, if it leaves such a distinctive signature!