СИДНЕЙ - Во вторник был испытан скрамджет (scramjet - от supersonic combustion ram-jet) - к-рый позволит пилотируемые полеты со скоростью в 8 раз превышающую скорость звука.
Ракета, с прицепленным к ней скрамджетом, была запущена с воен. базы Woomera, Южн. Австралия. Четыре часа спустя, ученые продолжали изучать записи бортовой аппаратуры, неуверенные, что скорость была достигнута.
См. доп. новости на сайте университета University of Queensland.
Теоретический план такой: ракета закидывает скрамджет св стратосферу - ок. 314 км. В свободном падении вниз, гиперзвуковой двигатель сжигает атмосферный кислород, смешивающийся с водородом. Скорость в 7.6 маха достигается на высоте 37 км.
(Я так полагаю, пассажиры в это время смотрят Star Wars Episode -05, и испытывают ультрасовременные гигиенические пакеты из баллистического нейлона).
Австралийские испытания нетерпеливо ожидались НАСОй, после того, как ее собств. испытания X-43a не удались.
ОРИГИНАЛ
Australia tests Mach 7.6 engine
SYDNEY — The world's first test flight of a hypersonic "scramjet" engine, which scientists believe could one day allow people to fly at eight times the speed of sound, was launched from the Australian outback on Tuesday.
A rocket with the scramjet attached was launched from a military site at Woomera in South Australia state, said the University of Queensland, which developed the prototype hypersonic engine.
But four hours after the launch, scientists were still studying data from a flight box and could not confirm whether the engine actually worked.
"Project leader Dr. Allan Paull says the data is inconclusive and he will be in a better position to make a statement about the experiment Wednesday," said a statement on the university's Web site.
The scramjet is short for supersonic combustion ramjet.
The theory is the rocket would carry the scramjet into the upper atmosphere around 314 kilometres (196 miles), and the engine would then fall back to earth.
Oxygen rushing into the scramjet is supposed to ignite with hydrogen fuel on the way back down, at 37 kilometres (23 miles) above the Earth, allowing it to reach a speed of 7.6 times the speed of sound before crashing into the ground.
Originally scheduled for August, the maiden flight of what the researchers say could be the world's first successful hypersonic engine was put back because of difficulties hi getting the rocket launch vehicle to Australia.
The Australian experiment has been eagerly awaited since the failed test in June of NASA's unmanned X-43A scramjet prototype.
Reuters
