Scramjet engines would be capable of flying from New York to Tokyo in two hours. They’ve been in development for decades and governments from around the world – USA, Australia and China – are finally making them a reality.

So just how fast is a scramjet? You may need a bit of comparison:

• A Boeing 747 cruises at 567 mph (Mach 0.85).
• The Concorde was capable of speeds of up to 1,330 mph (Mach 2.02).
• An F-14 Tomcat maxes out at 1,544 mph (Mach 2.34).
• The SR-71 Blackbird holds the speed record: 2,511 mph (Mach 3.3).
• Scramjets are projected at Mach 15, that’s upwards of 10,000 mph.

The jet engines of today aren’t able to go faster than Mach 3 because they use turbines that would melt under the outrageous temperatures that occur beyond that speed. So how is it possible to weather the storm? Take out the turbines. Scramjets are force-fed air engines with no moving or meltable components.

Inaugural attempts at this technology began with Reagan announcing a public scramjet project called the National Aerospace Plane (Rockwell X-30) in 1986. Dreams of “a new Orient Express” scheduled to have the technology up and running to ferry passengers by the 90’s. President Clinton canceled the project in 1994 because of all of the barriers and problems the research had.

Yet, as usual, the lessons of yesteryear gave us insight for todays research. Instead of trying to create a plane that can takeoff and reach Mach 25 within moments researchers are slowly developing the engines to instead go off in stages.

The first field tested scramjet flight was in 2002 by Australian researchers, called HyShot. It was essentially a rocket with a scramjet engine strapped on it that was launched 20 miles above the surface of the earth. Upon it’s re-entry the engine fired for five seconds, reaching 5,000 miles per hour (Mach 7.6) before crashing into the ground.

In 2004 NASA’s X-43A, a rocket craft, was launched off a moving airplane and reached a jaw dropping 7,307 mph (Mach 9.6) after 10 seconds. The new goal is 100 seconds of continuous flight. The X-1 engine design is currently being tested in Langley and hopefuls think that its flight time is capable of being extended to an hour of continuous flight.

So when will you finally be able to enjoy the benefits of all this blazing, neck-whipping speed? Darpa’s HTV-3X Blackswift is an unmanned vehicle that is set to make it’s first flight in 2012. After that it’s all a matter of adding some seats and charging a hell of a premium.

[Popsi]

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