Posted on 03/22/2010 3:33:34 PM PDT by naturalman1975
THE dream of flying from Australia to Europe in three hours has taken another step toward reality with the second "hypersonic" flight in the outback.
Until now air travel at "hypersonic" speed was the stuff of science fiction.
But Australian and US defence boffins at Woomera military range launched a plane which hit speeds of 5840km/h, more than twice as fast as the fastest jet fighter and six times quicker than today's airliner, but 3000km/h slower than last year's first flight.
Such velocity would propel an aircraft from Sydney to London in just 2.9 hours, reports The Daily Telegraph.
The new technology, known as Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation or HIFiRE is being developed by scientists from Australia's Defence Science and Technology Organisation and the US Air Force.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
Does not look very comfortable. Also landing looks like
a problem..
What is this a picture of?
I’m no expert...but it looks like a rocket to me!
Will they have Maker’s Mark in First Class???
I ain't no rocket scientist either but that sure as hell doesn't look like a plane.
No overweight people allowed, weight restriction of 5 pounds per person only.
For mac daddy that’s not a problem, the tax payers will help pay for any unused seat at $12,000,000.00 each.
No problem as there are only 5 seats including the Pilot and Co-Pilot.
There are no window seats and no inflight service.
There are job postings for both Pilot and Co-Pilot with the same weight restriction.
I think you have to have a one way ticket.
Defense contractors often stretch the truth, but this one is a giant whopper.
In-Flight missile repairman.
Hypersonic shockwave compression superheats the inlet air so that the fuel ignites automatically when injected into the airstream.
That was possible with the Concorde but unfortunately too expensive.........
“Will they have Maker’s Mark in First Class???”
No, but he has been assured to be first on the scene...
>> I think you have to have a one way ticket
And fixed velocity.
I’ve got whiplash just thinking about takeoff.
Of course what they don’t tell you is that these are technology demonstrators where the hypersonic portion of the flight is measured in seconds or minutes because the aircraft are so small that they can’t carry that much fuel. But hey, we can dream can’t we?
Good...I like it better with Coke than John Daniels anyway...
The Wright Flyer was pretty impractical to begin with. So was the X-1. Technology demonstrators are needed.
Didn't say they weren't. I just think that commercial hypersonic flight is a long way off. The Wright Flyer & the Bell X-1 were at least manned aircraft.
The first practical application for this technology will be a hypersonic missile that will kill using kinetic energy.
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