Hypersonic Plane - Six times faster than sound!
Supersonic planes, which travel at the speed of sound and a little more than that, have been around. Military units have always been interested in fighter jets that can fly at amazing speeds. Now, DARPA, the American military research agency and the American Air Force have high hopes of manufacturing an aircraft that can fly at a rate of more than six times the speed of sound. Termed the Hypersonic plane, it is expected to fly six times faster than sound, do a couple of spins in the air and return safely. The aircraft would need a combination of a standard plane, a rocket, and an "air-breathing" scramjet-powered craft to materialize. It would also need a special kind of engine, an engine that is powered with a constant volume combustion or CVC. In a CVC set up, combustion takes place at constant volume, and pressure increases which results in higher thermal efficiency and lower specific fuel consumption. One particular kind of CVC is the Pulse Detection Engine (PDE), which rather burning fuel, blows it up. Vulcan, the engine that is being considered for the hypersonic plane, is going to blow up the fuel. However, the technology is still in the nascent stage and nobody has tried the PDE till now and comes with many risks.
Via: Blog.Wired
