watching the scramjet on fox news...

Kristie

Kristie

Mama Bear....
Staff member
thye have a camera on one of the F-18's.. so it seems like we'd be able to watch the entire proceeding.. which to me is AWESOME.. i love this stuff...

but dang.. i can't believe how much runway the plane (can't remember the type) needs to take off and how much pollution the fuel puts into the air.. what are they using anyways? or is it just an older plane that makes it seem much more polluted???

this is pretty darn exciting! could change things in aviation forever (at least for long haul flights), if it works...
grin.gif
 
OOOhhhh ok... I thought i recognized them as i'd seen them and i've walked through the plane before in an airshow, just couldn't remember the name...

how kewl is it thought that they have a camera on board (and the clairity/non-vibration of the video is great!).. it used to be you'd just wait to hear word at the end of the day..

hard to believe none of the reguarl network stations are as interested in this...
 
It's still on.. just that they're going back and forth with other news since it'll take the plane another half hour or so to reach it's destination (where rocket will be dropped)...
 
Totally Agree!!! Nothing like hearing about a successful mission!!

we'll have to see what this means as far as commercial aviation is concerned.
 
It'll be beyond most of our lifetimes (first large scale model is due out in 2025), but in 100 years, international trips will be a lot shorter!

J.
 
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but dang.. i can't believe how much runway the plane (can't remember the type) needs to take off and how much pollution the fuel puts into the air.. what are they using anyways? or is it just an older plane that makes it seem much more polluted???

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It's from the water-injected J57 engines.
 
The scramjet is a super-efficient thrust concept with no moving parts (a lot like a turbine with no fans). It simply manipulates the flow of air through itself in such a way that allows fuel to ignite, propelling it to VERY supersonic speeds (mach 7 today). HOWEVER, for it to START working, it needs to reach speeds around mach 3.

J.
 
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What is a Scramjet?

Is it a new type of engine if so how does it work and how is it better then the turbine engine?

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A SCRAMjet is a Super-Sonic Combustion Ram Jet. A Ram-Jet is a jet engine with no moving parts, it compresses the air for combustion simply by the venturi shape inside the engine. The Ram Jet must have airflow prior to ignition, since there are no moving parts, the airflow must come from forward motion. The difference between a Ram Jet and a SCRAM jet is the SCRAM jet has super-sonic flow throughout the engine. Prior to this new engine, all older type engines slow the airflow to subsonic speeds prior to combustion (yes, even on supersonic aircraft such as the F-15 and Concorde)... This new engine allows the combustion process to occur in a supersonic environment, which is quite a feat!
 
What I'm wondering about is the fact that they are saying that the scamjet will be the engine that will make commercial space travel possible. (they being, you know... "they"). Anyhow, I see two problems with this. You've got to get up to around Mach 5 before the thing even works, so how do they get going that fast in the first place. I know they used a Pegasus rocket for the test, but if they are trying to be effecient, JATOs proved that a better engine beat a rocket boost anyday. And secondly, if the whole advantage of the engine is the fact that it sucks O2 in, what happens when it reaches altitudes where there is no, or not enough 02 to burn (ie, space, where it is supposed to be going)? Just my incoherent babblings....

Ethan
 
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