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New Jet Engine Tested
SpaceAdmiral writes "A revolutionary new jet engine has recently been tested in Australia. It is hoped that the engine, designed by UK defense firm QinetiQ and capable of Mach 7.6, will pave the way for ultra fast, intercontinental air travel. Scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) engines have no moving parts and take all of the oxygen they need (to burn hydrogen fuel) from the air, allowing for larger loads than rockets which must carry oxygen for fuel."
" Scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) engines have no moving parts and take all of the oxygen they need (to burn hydrogen fuel) from the air, allowing for larger loads than rockets which must carry oxygen for fuel."
What??? I'll sue right now. This infringes on the name for my patented propulsion "Spamjet" (tm) system.... a revolutionary aerospace technology by which vehicles set up Hotmail accounts, and then propel themselves across the world by converting the lengthening promises of penis spams into actual thrust.
"Even the U2, which flew at > 40,000ft got it's oxygen from the surrounding air."
Bono and the boys are still flyin' high, but they always never forget to breathe.
I'll bet it was a smashing success
If you're going to be hitting the ground at any speed greater than a few feet per second, you might as well make it Mach 7. Not like it's going to make a whole hell of a lot of difference anyway, and the crater will be a lot more impressive.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
Who cares about specifications! All that is important is that it is now possible to crash a 10 million dollar+ piece of equiptment into a planet at mach 10! Imagine what NASA could do with this!
Five blades is plenty for me. I want to keep my skin atleast.
More to the point, the distance between San Francisco (in California, USA) and London (in England) is about 5000 miles. That same passenger jet at mach 7 can bring its passengers from London to San Francisco in about 1 hour. The trip would be much cheaper than that offered by a subsonic plane because 1 hour is only enough time for cheap snacks like airline peanuts and Coca-Cola whereas a 14-hour flight would mean an expensive (but low-quality) dinner tray.
On the other hand, a 1-hour flight would facilitate global infidelity. An errant British businessman could fly to San Francisco, have dinner and sex with his squeeze, and then return to London within 4 hours.
It's called a "LASER"
look into it
Well, as much sense as any ridiculous method you can think of to keep the super-rich on their meeting schedule...
How many escape pods are there? "NONE,SIR!" You counted them? "TWICE, SIR!"
Oh yeah....I'm, like, TOTALLY new here....That's why my 'nick is #757....
"Can you find a 400 mile high hill, somewhere where there's no air resistance?"
In fact, when I was a young'n, the school was on top of that hill! We had to walk out of the atmosphere in freeze-drying temperatures every day! Kids, these days, get heated pressurized busses! They're spoiled, I say! There's nothing like a walk through the stratosphere to put the world in perspective!
Even the U2, which flew at > 40,000ft
Try greater than 60,000 with a ceiling somewhere in the 70s.
The SR-71 can fly 80,000+.
There are even stories about towers giving clearance to 40,000 to SR-71, with the controller snidely stating, "it's yours...if you can get there." Whereby, the pilot replies back, "...affirmative...85,000 to 40,0000, followed by a nice chuckle."