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Superjet Technology Nears Reality After Successful Australia Test (cnet.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Yahoo: A two-hour flight from Sydney to London is a step closer to reality after the latest successful test Wednesday of hypersonic technology in the Australian desert. A joint US-Australian military research team is running a series of 10 trials at the world's largest land testing range, Woomera in South Australia, and at Norway's Andoya Rocket Range. Hypersonic flight involves traveling at more than five times the speed of sound (Mach 5). Scientists involved in the program -- called Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation (HIFiRE) -- are developing an engine that can fly at Mach 7, Michael Smart of the University of Queensland told AFP. He added that the scramjet was a supersonic combustion engine that uses oxygen from the atmosphere for fuel, making it lighter and faster than fuel-carrying rockets. The experimental rocket in the trial on Wednesday reached an altitude of 278 kilometers and a target speed of Mach 7.5, Australia's defense department said. The first test of the rocket was conducted in 2009. The next test is scheduled for 2017 with the project expected to be completed in 2018. It's only a matter of time before such high-speed transportation technology is implemented into our infrastructure. Last week, Hyperloop One conducted a successful test of its high speed transportation technology in the desert outside Las Vegas.
Supersonic air transport had its ascendency in the 1970s back when businesspeople were prepared to pay thousands of dollars to prevent being incommunicado for more than a few hours. Being out of touch might cost them thousands, so they were willing to pay to prevent it. Fairly soon, people will be able to make calls from planes anywhere on the planet, stream video and be online at 35,000 feet - All from the comfort of an $8,000 first-class seat. No one will be incommunicado anymore, so the business driver to get from A to B in as little time as possible won't matter as much any more.
The future belongs to aircraft like the future generations of the 787 and A350. Subsonic, but comfortable, quiet, and nearly able to fly between any two points on the globe without stopping.
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Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
Successful test of the engine in a small experimental device is hardly justify thinking we will soon do this in our lifetime. Practical and safety issues about, not the least of which is the fact that it will have to be the most complicated computer controlled object ever to fly.
No pilot will be able to control a hypersonic plane when something goes WRONG. Computers will have to take over from other computers to control a malfunctioning hypersonic aircraft.
remember when NASA actually had a budget to make cool things too?
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
I'm puzzled by the association with Musk inspired hyper loops.
Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once
The flight from AUS to the UK would be shorter than the line at the TSA?
Because they want to use these things as a stage to take objects into orbit and save on carrying a lot of extra oxygen. The idea of this test is to simulate conditions that the engine is being planned to be used for, which involves going through the atmosphere and then to very high altitude. Level flight has been simulated in a shock tunnel for these since the 1980s (I watched a test in 1987) but rapid change in altitude is a different story.
"... reached an altitude of 278 kilometers"
That is pretty high, for an oxygen breathing machine. It could have touched hands with IIS almost at that height. I wonder how much oxygen is available there.
I'm puzzled by the association with Musk inspired hyper loops.
They both involve "hype".
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I know, like most Americans, I spend a lot of time worrying about offending the Northern Irish.
like referring to the US as the "Contiguous United States".
More like saying "America", which people actually do. And somehow you don't meet a lot of angry Hawaiians, Mexicans, or Canadians.
In all seriousness, like many things it's probably a holdover in American English from when the US became independent. At the time, it was indeed the Kingdom of Great Britain - they didn't hook up with Ireland for another few years when it became the UK. Then another name change after WW1. Who can keep up? :)
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.