• WaveRider hypersonic jet targets Mach 6
    21 replies, posted
[QUOTE] [IMG]http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/62265000/jpg/_62265188_rider.jpg[/IMG] Hypersonic jet WaveRider is to undergo another test flight above the Pacific Ocean aiming to reach Mach 6. At this speed - more than 4,300mph (6,900km/h) - it could travel from London to New York in about an hour. WaveRider is one of several projects currently under way to create an aeroplane able to reach much higher speeds than today's jets, after Concorde was decommissioned in 2003. During a test in June 2011, WaveRider failed to reach the target speed. A B-52 bomber will lift the wingless unmanned jet from US Edwards Air Force Base in California to 50,000 feet (15,250m). The craft will then be dropped, and after a free fall of about four seconds, its engine is supposed to ignite. X-51A WaveRider should then climb to 70,000ft (21,300m) and eventually reach Mach 6. The Mach number is the ratio of the speed of an object to the speed of sound. Mach 1 is the speed of sound - approximately 768mph, depending on various factors including temperature and altitude. So Mach 6 is six times the speed of sound. Concorde's cruising speed was Mach 2 - it flew from London to New York in just over three hours. The WaveRider test flight is expected to last for about five minutes. At the end of it, the aircraft will break into pieces and fall into the Pacific. The test is essentially a repeat of last summer's attempt, when the hypersonic aircraft reached Mach 5, but the engine failed to attain full power. Concorde's legacy? European aerospace and defence giant EADS believes that hypersonic passenger flights are likely to appear in the near future. In 2011, EADS presented its own concept of a commercial high-speed aircraft designed to fly at Mach 4. "The business community who wanted to be in New York in three hours made Concorde highly viable, and now there's interest on both sides of the Atlantic to jump a generation and go from supersonic flight to hypersonic flight," EADS' vice-president of business development, Peter Robbie, told the BBC. "Such an aircraft will be very expensive, of course, because of the enormous amounts of energy that is required to get to such speeds. "But the idea of going from Tokyo to Paris in two-and-a-half hours is very attractive for the business and political community - and I think that by about 2050, there may be a viable commercial aircraft." In August 2011, US military scientists attempted to get another unmanned hypersonic experimental aircraft to reach Mach 20 - 20 times the speed of sound. However, they lost contact with the Falcon Hypersonic Test Vehicle 2 (HTV-2) after it had separated from its rocket.[/QUOTE] [url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19257769[/url]
Damn, that is fast, hope they succeed in their test.
24 hour long journeys to and from Australia are horrible
I hope they manage to get that speed in the test, And i also hope that they learned from Concord about what needs fixing for this kind of transport though. Given the feeling of acceleration on a normal plane, Just imagine the feel of acceleration to Mach 6
[QUOTE=BreenIsALie;37231905]I hope they manage to get that speed in the test, And i also hope that they learned from Concord about what needs fixing for this kind of transport though. Given the feeling of acceleration on a normal plane, Just imagine the feel of acceleration to Mach 6[/QUOTE] But they won't go to Mach 6 by the end of the runway, they'd probably go to normal takeoff speed like mach 0.2 and then accelerate gradually once at altitude. I see your point though. Also, this would be pretty sick if they get it to be legal. I thought they can't fly supersonic over land? So the LA to NY thing ... I'm skeptical about. But it sounds awesome :D
How do you control something going that quickly?
[QUOTE=Chinook249;37232028]But they won't go to Mach 6 by the end of the runway, they'd probably go to normal takeoff speed like mach 0.2 and then accelerate gradually once at altitude. I see your point though. Also, this would be pretty sick if they get it to be legal. I thought they can't fly supersonic over land? So the LA to NY thing ... I'm skeptical about. But it sounds awesome :D[/QUOTE] It's the problem Concorde had (among other issues). They had no real problem going hypersonic over water, but as soon as they came over land they had to go slower as not to both risk property damage and noise complaints. That also meant that they had to slow down far before land to avoid the sonic boom hitting anything. I suppose if they were to fly higher, and went subsonic when coming in to landing, it would mitigate the problem. Also if they were to fly longer distances then they would spend more time hypersonic which would raise the ration of hyper/sub flight Speculation on my part, But if these guys have invested enough time and resources to build several prototypes, I think they have given the problems some thought
[QUOTE=jaykray;37232092]How do you control something going that quickly?[/QUOTE] A lot of planning and fine controls.
[QUOTE=jaykray;37232092]How do you control something going that quickly?[/QUOTE] Very carefully.
[QUOTE=jaykray;37232092]How do you control something going that quickly?[/QUOTE] Lots of computers.
Didn't they plan to put people on those things? It doesn't look big enough for one person let alone 4-5.
[QUOTE=jaykray;37232092]How do you control something going that quickly?[/QUOTE] You don't really "control" it as much as you let it keep going then hope to your deity of choice that it will slow down.
[QUOTE=BreenIsALie;37232099]It's the problem Concorde had (among other issues). They had no real problem going hypersonic over water, but as soon as they came over land they had to go slower as not to both risk property damage and noise complaints. That also meant that they had to slow down far before land to avoid the sonic boom hitting anything. I suppose if they were to fly higher, and went subsonic when coming in to landing, it would mitigate the problem. Also if they were to fly longer distances then they would spend more time hypersonic which would raise the ration of hyper/sub flight Speculation on my part, But if these guys have invested enough time and resources to build several prototypes, I think they have given the problems some thought[/QUOTE] Companies have been trying to work lessening the sonic boom for a while now. Lockheed Martin came up with this thing when designing for Nasa as part of a project to see how air travel would be by 2035. Apparently the tail design would enormously reduce the effects and size of the sonic boom [quote][img]http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/464923main_image_1698_946-710.jpg[/img][/quote]
[QUOTE=jaykray;37232092]How do you control something going that quickly?[/QUOTE] Modern jets are very complicated finicky things that pilots couldn't realistically fly without all the computers that help them. So, computers.
[QUOTE=Ogopogo;37236528]Companies have been trying to work lessening the sonic boom for a while now. Lockheed Martin came up with this thing when designing for Nasa as part of a project to see how air travel would be by 2035. Apparently the tail design would enormously reduce the effects and size of the sonic boom[/QUOTE] Haha a fucking squid with engines
[QUOTE=jaykray;37232092]How do you control something going that quickly?[/QUOTE] Lots of hamsters with levers and buttons under the hood.
[QUOTE=jaykray;37232092]How do you control something going that quickly?[/QUOTE] Reigns
[QUOTE=PX1K;37236320]Didn't they plan to put people on those things? It doesn't look big enough for one person let alone 4-5.[/QUOTE] They do eventually, That's just a test rig. Engine, Guidance and something to put it all in
I can't wait for WaveRider 64.
[QUOTE=jaykray;37232092]How do you control something going that quickly?[/QUOTE] give the pilot a really glitchy car stearing wheel and tell him to "eyeball it"
Concorde was perfectly fine, it's simply that the companies who operated it were failing to maintain it properly, and refusing to update the technology as advances came along. A crash was inevitable.
[QUOTE=jaykray;37232092]How do you control something going that quickly?[/QUOTE] Pigeon guidance [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pigeon[/url]
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