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Brits To Crash Test a Scramjet

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the please-give-us-videos-of-that dept.

hywel_ap_ieuan writes "The BBC is reporting that a the "Hyshot consortium" will be testing a scramjet called Hyshot III in Australia on Friday. The fun part: "If everything goes to plan, the experiment will begin at a height of 35 km. As the engine continues its downward path the fuel in the scramjet is expected to automatically ignite. The scientists will then have just six seconds to monitor its performance before the £1m engine eventually crashes into the ground.""

8 of 314 comments (clear)

  1. They should pool resources by Locke2005 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Perhaps they could team up with some Earth Sciences researchers doing work on crater formation...

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  2. The best kind of Science! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    All expeirements should end in some kind of explosion! What good is being a scienctist if you don't get to blow shit up?!?

  3. not the right way to start by blastard · · Score: 5, Funny
    Somehow, paving "the way for ultrafast, intercontinental air travel" by crashing your very first example does not sound like the way you want to start things off.

    Then again, the British did usher in the passener jet age with the Comet.

  4. Crash! by Colgate2003 · · Score: 5, Funny
    From the article

    On its descent the engine is expected to reach a top speed of Mach 7.6 or over 9,000km/ hour.

    I think crash is a bit of an understatement!

  5. Not the first time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    This has been done before, at Woomera test range. The University of Queensland launched HyShot in 2002, and had a major success.

    http://www.abc.net.au/science/slab/hyshot/default. htm

  6. Only on Slashdot by dsci · · Score: 5, Funny

    Do you see a comment by "heatdeath" responded to by "LiquidCoooled."

    --
    Computational Chemistry products and services.
  7. Re:It would have seemed more logical... by jayteedee · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'd have thought that getting as much data as humanly possible would be worth almost any additional effort.

    Ah....This ending pretty much explains the whole comment. You must be a physicist....certainly NOT an engineer. There is always diminishing returns on investment. You must pick a price point evaluate what you will get out of any test. More data is almost always better, but somebody has to pay out in the real (non-university) world.

    Other errors:
    There are solid state data recorders specifically made for high speed impacts. On the order of 100,000 G's. Place one in the back behind something heavy/solid and you shouldn't have any problem.

    Wireless can hit 10,000,000 bits/second with one channel. Throw a couple of S-band channels and you have a stout communication line to the ground. Plus the hardware (Rx stations) is already in place at most ranges.

    I assume they are doing the burn on the way down because they couldn't afford a rocket big enough to accelerate up to M=7.6 in a dense atmosphere. Plus they don't have to deal with all the heating issues while they are accelerating. Take a nice gentle ride at speeds up to M=3 or 4 and then use gravity to assist you up to the desired speed for the test. As an ENGINEER, I like their simple, low-cost solution to their test.

    --
    Religion and science are both 90% crap..but that doesn't negate the other 10%.
  8. I'll tell you the same thing I tell my wife....! by JustASlashDotGuy · · Score: 5, Funny

    Anything worth doing can be done in 6 seconds! ;)