Hypersonic flight technology just passed a 'hugely significant' milestone

CASTLE ROCK, Colo., - Engineers working on a propulsion system to enable hypersonic air travel say they have passed a development milestone. U.K.-based Reaction Engines is developing technology for Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engines (SABRE), which could one day allow aircraft to fly up to five times faster than the speed of sound — that's Mach 5 or 3,836 miles per hour. At that speed, hypersonic flights between London and Australia could be over in just four-and-a-half hours, according to Chloe Taylor of CNBC.

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The Intelligent Aerospace take:

April 8, 2019-In the aerospace world, much of the chatter surrounding hypersonic propulsion is in regards to defensive and offensive military capabilities for aircraft and weapons systems. There are civilian applications though, obviously, and UK-based Reaction Engines have stated they their precooler component has successfully handled temperatures of 420 degrees Celsius, which equals the temperatures aircraft would face at Mach 3.3. Reaction Engines say they intend to push its precooler to temperatures hotter than 1,000 degrees Celsius which aircraft are exposed to at Mach 5.

Related: Military researchers seek to counter threats from enemy hypersonic missiles and aircraft

Related: DARPA partners with Aerojet Rocketdyne to develop propulsion system for subsonic, supersonic, hypersonic aircraft

Related: Orbital ATK to help U.S. military develop hypersonic propulsion for aircraft and missiles

Jamie Whitney, Associate Editor
Intelligent Aerospace

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