Scramjet Engine Makes First Test Flight over Australian Outback- Airtravel at Mach 8

The world’s first flight test of a scramjet engine, conducted over the Australian outback, appears to have gone
well, University of Queensland officials report.

By SPACE.com Staff

"So far it has all gone to plan. The launch was a success, and we received data for the duration of the flight,"
said Allan Paull, team leader of the program dubbed HyShot.

A Terrier Orion Mk70 rocket boosted the scramjet engine toward the
upper atmosphere at 10:05 p.m. EDT Monday (0205 GMT Tuesday),
flying its mission over the Woomera Prohibited Range.

The aim of the experiment was to achieve the world’s first flight test
of air-breathing supersonic ramjet engines, also known as scramjets.
Such engines, which speed along at about Mach 8 — or eight times
the speed of sound — could revolutionize commercial air travel by
reducing flight times.

Rockets launching smaller satellites into Earth orbit might also take
advantage of the technology, which combines hydrogen fuel with
atmospheric air being "rammed" into the carefully shaped engine
and pressurized by the great speed. The mixture is ignited like a jet
engine and the hot gases expelled to produce thrust.

Paull said although signs so far are positive, it still is too early to say
the scramjet experiment succeeded. The scramjet experiment took
place during the final few seconds of the flight, which lasted almost
10 minutes.

"Hopefully we’ll be in a better position to make that assessment in
the next couple of days, but at the moment I’m feeling confident,"
he said. "Nevertheless, even at this early stage we have achieved
what no else has managed to do, helping put Australia at the
forefront on this new technology."

Scramjet technology has been tested in wind tunnels but no actual
civilian flight tests have been conducted. Different attempts during
the past two years by Japanese and American researchers failed.

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/hyshot_020730.html