Is it a bird? Not it146;s a scramjet

The age of aviation started a 100 years ago. On December 17, 1903, the Wright brothers achieved a flight of 12 seconds with an approximate s...

The age of aviation started a 100 years ago. On December 17, 1903, the Wright brothers achieved a flight of 12 seconds with an approximate speed of 10 km per hour. From that moment to today 8212; on November 16 NASA successfully conducted the final and fastest test flight of an unmanned experimental jet, at a record nearly 10 times the speed of sound, or 11,260 km per hour 8212; human civilisation has travelled an aeon.

The third X-43A aircraft of NASA beat the previous March 27, 2004 record of Mach 6.83, or 6.83 times the speed of sound, for a jet-powered vehicle. With this success NASA has indicated that the age of supersonic flying machines may become extinct in the near future. By definition any flight faster than Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound, is a hypersonic flight and this time NASA has almost touched Mach 10.

The flight marked a technical victory for a new revolutionary engine, the scramjet or supersonic-combustion ramjet, which aviation engineers think may usher in a new era of powered flight which could make space travel easier. In theory, the air-breathing engine could propel a plane to speeds that would enable around-the-world flights in just a few hours 8212; New Delhi theoretically could be just an hour away Washington as compared to the existing 15 hours!

Such scramjets could allow hypersonic travel with less fuel on board. These crafts are designed to suck the oxygen from the atmosphere after the initial boost. It is anticipated that with the further developments in this technology, an efficient access to space opens up.

The Hyper-X programme to develop scramjet engines began in 1996 and NASA had tested X-43A during the year 2001 without any success. NASA8217;s future plans include the launch of X-43D that could use a hydrogen-powered scramjet which could touch the speed of Mach 15.

Scramjets are being developed in a number of countries as an alternative propulsion system to rockets. Future applications could include hypersonic missiles and airplanes, and reusable single- or two-stage-to-orbit space launchers. The fastest operational aircraft till date 8212; SR-71 8212; was extensively used by the US air force for reconnaissance purposes.

The aircraft remained important even in the satellite era because satellites could not cover every geopolitical hotspot. Now the US armed forces will probably try to use this technology not only for surveillance and intelligence gathering but also for combat roles.

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The US Department of Defence is known to be working on this technology, eyeing it for use in bombers that could quickly reach targets anywhere on the globe. Such machines, because of their low cost, may even replace micro satellite technology in certain areas. But for the ordinary traveller, howevr, it is the prospect of this technology helping to make air travel very cheap and very fast that is the most exciting.