Scramjet test a success!
The world's first successful scramjet test has been announced by the University of Queensland in Australia. The experiment opens the possibility for engines that could take a plane from Sydney to London in a mere two hours.
A July 30 launch of a Terrier Orion rocket in an outback missile range carried a scramjet (an air-breathing supersonic engine) on a ten-minute flight. The data from the test has been analysed and shows the scramjet performed as designed with speeds of Mach 7.6 (7.6 times the speed of sound) achieved.
Previous attempts to launch scramjets, by both University of Queensland and NASA groups, have failed due to problems bringing the scramjet up to speed. A scramjet needs to be moving quickly to provide thrust in the first place so, in practice, it will be used in conjunction with more conventional engines.
A scramjet has no moving parts and works by compressing air coming in the front of the engine, mixing in a little hydrogen and then igniting the mixture. The only by-product of the combustion is water.
The UQ experiment is being done on a tiny budget compared to the NASA project, with US$0.8 million funding compared with NASA's US$125 million.
Completion of a successful launch brings hope to the UQ team that they can now attract more funding as their current grants have run out and various staff have already finished with the project.
Previous scramjet news
[Added later]
Other news coverage
Scientists Say Australian Hypersonic Test a Success
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/SciTech/reuters20020815_584.html
Experimental jet 'a success'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2196910.stm
Scramjet test a success
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992685
Scramjet success makes history
http://abc.net.au/news/scitech/2002/08/item20020816230009_1.htm
Australians Say Hypersonic Flight Test a Success
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&;cid=570&ncid=753&e=7&u=/nm/20020816/sc_nm/science_australia_scramjet_dc_2 [David Harris: Science news]
1:12:33 AM 
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