Amazing technology, I must say…

Posted on BBC News:

The scramjet engine, the Hyshot III, was launched at Woomera, 500km north of Adelaide in Australia, on the back of a two stage Terrier-Orion rocket.

Once 314km up, the Hyshot III fell back to Earth, reaching speeds analysts hope will have topped Mach 7.6 (9,000km/h).

A scramjet - or supersonic combustion ramjet - is mechanically very simple. It has no moving parts and takes all of the oxygen it needs to burn hydrogen fuel from the air.

This makes it more efficient than a conventional rocket engine as it does not need to carry its own oxygen supply, meaning that a vehicle using one could potentially carry a larger payload.

Ingenious design of a miraculous piece of technology!

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 26th, 2006 at 1:56 pm and is filed under Hardware, Science, Technology, UnderpaidLoveMonki. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.