3-2-1 blast off for scramjet

[Krell]

Saturday, a team led by the University of Queensland, Australia successfully launched a rocket which may help pave the way for faster, cheaper air travel. The HyShot III launch in Woomera, Australia tested a scramjet engine by rocketing it 190 miles high in order to reach a speed of Mach 8.0, eight times the speed of sound, or about 5,000 miles per hour. The scramjet engine was developed by UK company, QinetiQ and was attached to a Terrier-Orion rocket.

University of Queensland graduate students (left to right) Dillon Hunt, Samantha Coras and Rainer Kirchhartz examine the scramjet engine before final assembly. The next launch is scheduled for Thursday.

FULL STORY






Remember the game Missile Command?

What I think is interesting is that we could deploy a field of missile seeking scramjets as a preventative counter measure. Ground based scramjets might intercept and destroy incoming nucleur payloads much more quickly that those born on aircraft, and from a safer distance. Firing a forward pellet payload at mach 8 plus explosives would surely bring down anything inbound.




.

[WonderNerd]

Well, that's a cool thought, but you forgot to consider the cost of the

system that gets the thing going fast enough to start up. That, and

rockets seem to be way more effecient at higher altitudes than jet engines,

so the enemy could always alter the flight path of the rocket so that the altitude

is about 250,000ft. I don't think scramjets operate at that altitude.