Remarkable possibilities of hypersonic technology.

Above: X-43 thermal image.

The hypersonic aircraft can travel over the Atlantic Ocean in 30 minutes. That means the entire world in three or at least 5 hours range from the base, where that kind of aircraft stays. Hypersonic aircraft that use hydrogen as fuel don't leave pollution behind them.

That means the hypersonic aircraft can be excellent tools for cargo and passenger flights. But the problem is that. Hypersonic aircraft are also weapons. The hypersonic aircraft can turn into a powerful kamikaze drone even if it cannot drop bombs.

Diagram of a typical gas turbine jet engine.

Connecting rocket applications with turbojets is possible to create spacecraft, that can operate from regular runways. In rocket turbojet, the hatch closes the air inlet and engine compressor face. The reason for that is this. By closing the air inlet the system denies the gas flow to the front of the engine. Then the system starts to inject oxygen with propellant to the turbo-engine.

New technology like acoustic systems that can push pressure waves away from the aircraft body makes it possible for the hypersonic aircraft, whose speed is about Mach 5-20 can operate in multiple altitudes. The hypersonic systems can use regular rocket engines like Kinzhal missiles do. But more advanced systems will use air-breathing engine systems like ramjets and scramjets.

Diagram of a valved pulsejet.

1 - Air enters through valve and is mixed with fuel.

2 - The mixture is ignited, expands, closes the valve and exits through the tailpipe, creating thrust.

3 - Low pressure in the engine opens the valve and draws in air.

The pulsejet engine that is turned into a ramjet shape can be the answer to the hypersonic aircraft's problem. The pulsejet engine that was developed for the V-1 cruise missile in WWII can give the possibility to make new types of rocket systems. Pulsejet can be a breathing system at lower speeds. Then the pulsejet can close its air inlet. Then the system can start to inject liquid oxygen into the combustion chamber.

That kind of engine makes it possible for the shuttle, which operates from regular runways and fly to space. In the atmosphere that kind of system can use an air-breathing pulsejet engine. And when the craft is required to operate at the edge of the atmosphere. Or the orbital trajectory. The aircraft closes the pulsejet's front hatch. Then the engine starts oxygen injection into the hydrogen fuel.

"Simple ramjet operation, with Mach numbers of flow shown" (Wikipedia, Ramjet)

In some more futuristic models, the tractor beam could pull air to the ramjet engine. Or, an ionizer will ionize the air molecules, that the magnetic system pulls into the ramjet engine. The limit of the ramjet is about Mach 6-7. There is a more effective version of ramjet.

"A shock-induced combustion ramjet engine (abbreviated as shcramjet; also called oblique detonation wave engine; also called standing oblique detonation ramjet (sodramjet); or simply referred to as shock-ramjet engine) is a concept of air-breathing ramjet engine, proposed to be used for hypersonic and/or single-stage-to-orbit propulsion applications. (Wikipedia, Shcramjet)

"Diagram of principle of operation of a scramjet engine." (Wikipedia, Scramjet)

In some other models, the regular turbojets raise the aircraft's speed to Mach 1. Then the ramjet engine starts to operate. Then the ramjet accelerates the aircraft to a speed that is about Mach 6. Then the scramjet will launch.

The scramjet engine can also be an afterburner for the ramjet engine. When the aircraft's speed turns high enough, the fuel injection will turn to the scramjet. Those systems are the most exotic and powerful engines in the world.

https://bigthink.com/the-future/hypersonic-flight/

https://bigthink.com/the-present/hypersonic-jet/

https://daily.jstor.org/the-alarming-possibilities-of-hypersonic-flight/

https://scitechdaily.com/not-science-fiction-researchers-have-developed-metasurface-tractor-beams/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_turborocket

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsejet

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramjet

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shcramjet

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scramjet

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbojet

Chinese innovations and space lasers are interesting combinations.

Above: "Tiangong is China's operational space station located in low Earth orbit. (Image credit: Alejomiranda via Getty Images)" (Scpace.com, China's space station, Tiangong: A complete guide) Chinese are close to making nuclear-powered spacecraft. Almost every day, we can read about Chinese technical advances. So are, the Chinese more innovative than Western people? Or is there some kind of difference in culture and morale between Western and Chinese societies? The Chinese superiority in hypersonic technology is one of the things that tells something about the Chinese way of making things. In China, the mission means. And the only thing that means is mission. That means that things like budgets and safety orders are far different from Western standards. If some project serves the Chinese communist party and PLA (People's Liberation Army) that guarantees unlimited resources for those projects. Chinese authorities must not care about the public opinion. If we th

Iron Dome is one of the most effective air defense systems.

The Iron Dome is a missile defense system whose missiles operate with highly sophisticated and effective artificial intelligence. The power of this missile defense base is in selective fire. The system calculates the incoming missile's trajectory. And it shoots only missiles that will hit the inhabited area. The system saves missiles and focuses defense on areas that mean something. The system shares the incoming missiles in, maybe two groups. Another is harmless and another is harmful. Things like killer drones are also problematic because their trajectories are harder to calculate than ballistic missiles. The thing that makes drones dangerous is that they can make masks for ballistic missiles. And even if those drones are slow, all of them must be shot down. The thing is that the cooperation between drone swarms and ballistic missiles is the next danger in conflict areas. In the film, you can see how drones make light images of the skies. The killer drones can also carry LED li

The innovative shield that protects OSIRIS-APEX can also protect the new hypersonic aircraft.

"NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX spacecraft successfully completed its closest solar pass, protected by innovative engineering solutions and showing improvements in onboard instruments. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/CI Lab" (ScitechDaily, Innovative Engineering Shields NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX During Close Encounter With the Sun) The OSIRIS-APEX probe travels close to the sun. The mission plan is to research the sun. And especially find things that can warn about solar storms. Solar storms are things that can danger satellites at the Earth orbiter. And the purpose of OSIRIS-APEX is to find the method of how to predict those solar storms. Another thing is that the OSIRIS-APEX tests the systems and materials that protect this probe against heat and plasma impacts. The same technology. The researchers created for OSIRIS-APEX can used in the materials and structures. That protects satellites against nuclear explosions. That means this kind of system delivers information on how to prot

Interesting and futuristic innovations

Search This Blog