Scramjet Technology is obviously advancing apace, and a much bigger bird is a good plan.
This means that NASA is getting serious about ground to space and back development and is no longer prepared to leave it to others to try to figure out. This will represent another technology jump and no one is better positioned to make it happen.
The real purpose obviously is from surface to space. The competition will continue to be piggy back configurations such as Virgin’s effort.
As recently posted, I also like the chances of a craft hitting the atmosphere nearly vertical at 10,000 feet and Mach one or even a lot more with a strap on booster scram jet pack that can peel off when Mach six is reached and fly away. Primary boost is thus externalized, secondary boost gets it to both altitude and much of the necessary velocity and what is left to do is a much more modest burn to slide into orbit outside the atmosphere.
The only serious drag phase would be during the secondary burn because the primary boost would be contained inside an evacuated launch tube.
By DANIEL BATES
Last updated at 12:06 PM on 5th November 2010
NASA is planning to build hypersonic jets that will fly through the Earth’s atmosphere and slash flight times around the world to a few hours at most.
The US
Travelling at such speed would reduce the flight time from New York to Sydney
The project is thought to be aimed at making a reusable aircraft that could fly to Mars but, as with previous space technology, it could have a huge impact upon passenger transport too.
NASA's experimental X-43A scramjet aircraft which is capable if reaching almost seven times the speed of sound
Under the NASA Aeronautics 2010 proposal, the space agency will allocate $5million per year for the next three years to make the new aircraft a reality.
The aim is to create something which can carry passengers through the atmosphere, descend and land safely before being reused.
According to the proposal, engineers will look into ‘entry, descent and landing of high-mass vehicles entering into planetary atmospheres’ and ‘airbreathing access to space’
NASA is also aware of the many challenges it faces to build such a machine.
The proposal says: ‘The hypersonic heating environment, coupled with the emphasis on reusability, creates additional severe technology challenges for materials, material coatings, and structures that not only carry the aerodynamic loads of the air but also repeatedly sustain high thermal loads requiring long-life and durability while minimizing weight.
‘Space access launch vehicles must be lightweight, fully reusable and easily maintained if low-cost access to space is to be achieved.’
Hypersonic aircraft is still a fairly new concept and follows on from Concorde, which flew at Mach 2, or twice the speed of sound.
A hypersonic aircraft would reach Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound.
In June this year an experimental scramjet aircraft set a record for hypersonic flight, blazing through the air for more than three minutes at Mach 6, or more than 4,500 mph.
The X-51A Waverider scramjet was released from a B-52 bomber last week before its engine took it to Mach 6 and it flew autonomously for 200 seconds.
Scramjets work by using oxygen rushing in through the engine at supersonic speeds to ignite hydrogen fuel.
In October Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo completed its solo maiden flight after being carried aloft by its mothership to an altitude of 45,000ft and released over the Mojave Desert .
Built by famed aircraft designer Burt Rutan, the craft aims to be the first opportunity for space tourism at something close to an affordable price - tickets cost $200,000 (£125,000).
The craft is based on a prototype that won a $10million (£6.3million) prize in 2004 for being the first manned private rocket to reach space.
The six-passenger ship will undergo rigorous testing before it can carry tourists to space.
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