Posted by MoparNorm on Saturday, March 27, 2004 at 11:49PM :
In Reply to: Re: Remember this off topic day,... posted by a p bloom on Saturday, March 27, 2004 at 11:00PM :
Engineers have pursued scramjet technology because it could allow rocket-speed travel but with considerable savings in weight. Rockets must carry their own oxygen to combust the fuel they carry aboard; scramjets can scoop it out of the atmosphere.
APB, from the NASA web site:
"In scramjets, oxygen is rammed into a combustion chamber where it mixes with fuel and spontaneously ignites."
There are no moving parts in the engine, this is the first time that an air breathing scramjet engine has succesfully been tested. The speeds approached mach 7, or approx. 5,000 mph. The fastest speed ever recorded speed for an aircraft. The X-15 manned rocket plane traveled at mach 6.5.
MN