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| Science & Technology |
| Air Force Getting Closer to Testing Hypersonic Weapon, Engineers Say |
| 2015-05-20 |
| The Air Force program, which had a couple of failed tests, came several years after a similar NASA effort called the X-43, which in 2004 shattered speed records when it flew at nearly Mach 9.7, or about 6,600 miles per hour, for 10 seconds. But the engine couldn't withstand the temperatures involved. "The engine basically melted because it got so hot," Helbach said. "They didn't actively cool it. So for our program, we actively cooled the engine, which means that along the outside of the engine, we cycled the fuel around it to suck out the heat from the engine, heat up that fuel, and then inject it into the combustor for the scramjet engine." The X-51 was designed to start its engine using ethylene and transition to a hydrocarbon fuel called JP-7 -- the same type of endothermic fuel employed by the SR-71 Blackbird spy plane. "It basically means you can dump a lot of heat into that fuel," Helbach said. "When you crack the fuel, it actually makes it more combustible. It increases the amount of combustion you can create from the fuel." For the follow-on weapons program, the Air Force has teamed with the Pentagon's research arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, to shrink the technology into a hypersonic weapon that could fit on most of the bomber fleet, according to Kenneth Davidson, manager of the hypersonic materials development at the Air Force Research Laboratory. |
| Posted by:Blossom Unains5562 |
| #6 Speculation is that they use hydrogen fuel in a thin outer skin to cool the plane. Then once it is hot it flames up better and you get hypersonic 150,000 feet plus flight. Anywhere in the world in 3 hours and also low orbit for a sling shot released carried package without added boosters. |
| Posted by: Ebbatle Slinesing1040 2015-05-20 16:05 |
| #5 You're thinking of endo- vs. exothermic reaction, AA5839. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2015-05-20 13:02 |
| #4 I don't think endothermic is the correct term. Doesn't that mean it takes in more heat when it burns? Doesn't that rob energy from the combustion? |
| Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 2015-05-20 09:37 |
| #3 "When you crack the fuel, it actually makes it more combustible. It increases the amount of combustion you can create from the fuel." I've been thinking about some heat tape for the fuel lines on my diesel... |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2015-05-20 08:54 |
| #2 Boeing and McDonnell are willing to get on board if they can figure how to charge for selling replacement parts after the end of the world. |
| Posted by: ed in texas 2015-05-20 07:38 |
| #1 Its not official until its been SSSHHHH ...CCCCCC tested over GUAM-WESTPAC, + catches the eye of that Madonna fan from same. Last one's recent manuevers oer late-nite Hagatna/Agana reminded me of Star Trek's Capt.Kirk = Wiliam Shatner releasing the two whales from Earth's past so that the latter can communicate wid an Earth-dangerous/threatening Alien space probe - ITS EITHER THAT, OR THE USDOD-DARPA IS DEV ORBITAL/SPACE "PYLON" TECHNOLOGY. [BABYLON FIVE'S ANTI-"SHADOW", "PILE-DRIVER" PLANET-DESTROYING/CRACKING ROD-FROM-GOD here]. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2015-05-20 00:25 |