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Supersonic 'Skreemr' Jet Could Fly Faster than Mach 10

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The Skreemr supersonic jet concept could be the passenger airliner of the future, making the Atlantic seem more like a lake than an ocean. If this wild creation ever gets off the drawing board, that is. (www.popularmechanics.com) Más...

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Pileits
Pileits 2
Not likely considering those kind of speeds would melt almost ANY type of skin material. So good luck with that.
mduell
Mark Duell 1
You could actively cool them, with fuel perhaps. The flight time is only 30 min.
LGM118
LGM118 1
Doubtful; at those speeds, heating is extremely rapid; the X-15 had to use special materials primarily for its high-speed flights (although the X-15 did reach space, re-entry heating is only a factor if you're starting from orbital or close-to-orbital speeds, which the X-15 was not), and those flights only spent a couple minutes at hypersonic speeds, and even then only at Mach 5 to Mach 7, not Mach 10. Active cooling would be an option possibly for lower Mach numbers (maybe up to Mach 3?), but it's overwhelmed by the amount of heat generated above that.
joelwiley
joel wiley 1
More likely to disinter the Concorde I.
Av8nut
Michael Fuquay 1
Military, maybe. Civilian transport? I don't think so.

It's neat to read about it and to see a pretty picture to go 'Oooh...Aaah', but other than that, it's not happening. If there's one thing we've learned about the Concorde, it's that if something cost more money to operate than it can bring in, it's going to get canned. Supersonic technology sounds great, but with all the FAA strings attached with civil aviation as well as all the operating costs for an aircraft like that, it's just not a profitable endeavor for airlines.

Face it, our destiny lies in over-packed tin tubes.
HWDJeremy
With launch rails? Not a chance with military. Too vulnerable to attack, and nearly impossible to strategically redeploy. If you want a hypersonic military craft, it will need to be runway based (or Carrier-based if tech improves enough).

The problem with this is in the innate characteristics of this concept: Scramjets will only START at high altitude and speed. That means:
A) The launch rail will have to go to altitude, or at least send it ballistic at a speed/apoasis high enough to start it (expensive and impractical, ballistic approach leaves too much room for catastrophic failures)
B)The plane will need outboard boosters (inefficient and expensive)
C)The plane will need a set of additional engines to get it to altitude and speed (not in this concept, and would be inefficient due to added mass)

Also, consider the landings. Naturally, the aircraft would be going slow and low, resulting in an unavoidable flameout of the scramjets. This means that the craft would:
A) need to glide (impractical and too dangerous with passengers)
B) Have additional engines (see above)

If you want hypersonic airliners, suborbital spaceplanes and SSTOs like Skylon (using SABRE engines) are your best and cheapest bet.
HWDJeremy
Here's the problem: Scramjets will only START at high altitude and speed. That means:
A) The launch rail will have to go to altitude, or at least send it ballistic at a speed/apoasis high enough to start it (expensive and impractical, ballistic approach leaves too much room for catastrophic failures)
B)The plane will need outboard boosters (inefficient and expensive)
C)The plane will need a set of additional engines to get it to altitude and speed (not in this concept, and would be inefficient due to added mass)

Also, consider the landings. Naturally, the aircraft would be going slow and low, resulting in an unavoidable flameout. This means that the craft would:
A) need to glide (impractical and too dangerous with passengers)
B) Have additional engines (see above)

If you want hypersonic airliners, suborbital spaceplanes and SSTOs like Skylon (using SABRE engines) are your best and cheapest bet.
Ruger9X19
Ruger9X19 1
To for your points B and C from the article "Skreemr would then ignite liquid oxygen or kerosene rockets to increase its altitude and speed until it was traveling fast enough..."

Also, I have played many hours of Kerbal Space Program and the fuel requirements to sustain Mach 4 much less accelerate in the lower atmosphere is ridiculous. There is a reason orbital rockets don't start accelerating much (relatively) until they are in the upper atmosphere. :)
HWDJeremy
I actually have yet to get the scramjet mod.

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