London to New York in 2 Hours, what would it take to see Scramjet Technology a reality?

Question

It seems a tragedy that Concorde is now obsolete, are we going backwards in commercial supersonic aviation?

Ok scramjet is not viable. But would other forms of propulsion are avaliable to achieve these travel times?

Answer 1

To make supersonic jets commercially viable, they must be both faster AND larger. The Boeing 707 was faster and larger than other aircraft at the time (circa 1958) and revolutionized air travel. With faster speeds, it shortened travel times and made the world a smaller place. With a larger capacity, it lowered airfares, making air travel affordable to the masses.

The next generation of supersonic jets, no matter if they're scramjets, can revolutionize air travel like the 707 did if it can accomodate more passengers than the A380. To accomplish this, the fuselage must be sleek and long, perhaps longer than any existing aircraft. Passengers can be held in a high-density configuration because with shorter flight times, passenger comfort isn't that much of a concern. Case in point: Luxurious accomodations, such as sleeping berths, which were common on piston-engined aircraft, weren't installed on the 707.

The aircraft must also be designed to deflect shockwaves so that the sonic boom won't affect those on the ground. One reason the Concorde wasn't successful is that it wasn't allowed to fly above land. If the next-gerneration supersonic jetliners accomplish both of the above, it can reduce travel times and seat-mile costs, advancing the aviation industry from the jet age to the supersonic age.

Answer 2

At high speed the Concorde's engines were gaining more pressure ratio from the ramp design than the core of the engine, a ram-jet effect.

The A380 is more economical to run than smaller aircraft, if it were not then it would not be built or purchased, it is significantly more economical per passenger mile than the 747-400.

You are only talking about an average of M2 or so, let's go for M3. Aircraft have been doing that for years. There's current research to reduce the sonic boom too, which could make supersonic aircraft acceptable over land.

The problem is more likely to be fuel consumption in a warming world, there's more chance of sailing the Atlantic than crossing it at M4.

Answer 3

engine technology has come a long way since the engines for concorde were developed.
if engines built in the 1970's could do passenger travel at mach 2 and operate until recently then just think what kind of speed a jet engine developed today could produce even for a passenger jet.
concorde's problem was it didn't hold enough passengers to ever be economically viable for any eventual length of time.
build a mach 2+ plane as big as a modern 747. then it might be useful.

Answer 4

One of two things will determine if that kind of technology will be developed.
First- If someone thinks there is a profit to be made they will conquer heaven and earth to build it.
Second- If someone with more money than sense wants one it might be built.
p.s. yes we are going backward in commercial supersonic aviation, but we still might catch up eventually

Answer 5

scramjet looks awesome i hope i live long enough for it to be around - concorde was too small and wasnt a big enough money maker - it was more a very good pr stunt - but i think aviation is more concerned with building bigger planes (more profit) rather than faster

Answer 6

Lockheed SR-71....New York to London just under 2 hours....was a military plane though so no passengers obviously.....
Was going so fast that it could not start turning back to land in Suffolk, (RAF Mildenhall) until over Amsterdam....thats shifting.

Answer 7

well really bigger jets remove high congestion but cost more to run ie heathrow is making a bigger terminal for the a380 but some airports may need longer runways scramjet would be fun but i depends if it is good for the enviroment wich most airlines want to do is be greener (i dont sound like a hipppy do i)

Answer 8

the scramjet is a reality.


NASA X-43A 'Scramjet' Readied For Mach 10 Flight
NASA's high-risk, high-payoff Hyper-X Program is ready to attempt its greatest challenge yet - flying a "scramjet"-powered X-43A research vehicle at nearly 10 times the speed of sound.

Officials have set Nov. 15 or 16 for the flight, which will take place in restricted U.S. Naval airspace over the Pacific Ocean northwest of Los Angeles. This will be the last and, by far, the fastest of three unpiloted flight tests designed to explore an intriguing alternative to rocket power for space access vehicles.

Supersonic combustion ramjets - or scramjets - promise more airplane-like operations for increased affordability, flexibility and safety for ultra high-speed flights within the atmosphere and for the first stage to Earth orbit. The scramjet advantage is that, once they are accelerated to about Mach 4 (four times the speed of sound) by a conventional jet airplane engine, it is believed that they can be flown in the atmosphere up to about Mach 15 without having to carry heavy oxygen tanks as rockets must. Also, rockets tend to produce full thrust or nearly full thrust all the time; scramjets can be throttled back and flown more like an airplane.

The scramjet concept is simple: Accelerate the vehicle to about Mach 4 by a conventional jet engine, then start the scramjet engine (which has few or no moving parts) by introducing fuel and mixing it with oxygen obtained from the air and compressed for combustion. The air is naturally compressed by the forward speed of the vehicle and the shape of the inlet, similar to what turbines or pistons do in slower-moving airplanes and cars.

While the concept is simple, proving the concept has not been simple. At operational speeds, flow through the scramjet engine is supersonic - or faster than the speed of sound. At that speed, ignition and combustion take place in a matter of milliseconds. This is one reason it has taken researchers decades to demonstrate scramjet technologies, first in wind tunnels and computer simulations, and only recently in experimental flight tests.

The upcoming flight will be the third of three flights in the eight-year, $230 million Hyper-X Program. The first flight, in 2001, was ended prematurely when the booster rocket veered off course and had to be destroyed before the test could begin. The second flight, in March of this year, was a resounding success. The 12-foot-long X-43A research vehicle was delivered to the proper altitude and test speed, where its scramjet engine started and performed flawlessly for 11 seconds, as planned.

In the process of demonstrating a scramjet-powered airplane in flight for the first time, the March 2004 flight set a world speed record for an "air breathing" (jet-powered) vehicle. It flew at nearly Mach 7, or 5,000 mph. It easily surpassed the previous record set by the military's now-retired SR-71 Blackbird high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, which flew at about Mach 3.2.

For the third and final flight, there are several significant differences from the second flight. At Mach 10, the third X-43A vehicle will be zooming westward over the Pacific at approximately 7,000 mph or almost two miles per second. The vehicle will have additional thermal protection, since it will experience heating roughly twice that experienced by the Mach 7 vehicle. Reinforced carbon-carbon composite material is being added to the leading edges of the vehicle's vertical fins as well as the nose and wings to handle the higher temperatures.

Also for the Mach 10 flight, the booster rocket will launch the X-43A higher (110,000 ft v. 95,000 ft) before it separates and the X-43A starts its scramjet. The X-43A will travel further (about 850 v. 450 miles) before splashing into the ocean.

Ultimate applications of scramjet technology include future hypersonic missiles, hypersonic airplanes, and reusable single- or two-stage-to-orbit launch vehicles.

The final X-43A mission is expected to be the last research mission for NASA's venerable B-52B "mothership" heavy launch aircraft, which is due to be retired in the near future after almost 50 years of service.

The Hyper-X Program, managed by the NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate in Washington, is conducted jointly by NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va., and Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif.

A video clip, images and more information are available on the Internet at:

http://www.nasa.gov/missions/research/x43-main.html

NASA TV is available on the Web and via satellite in the continental U.S. on AMC-6, Transponder 9C, C-Band, at 72 degrees west longitude. The frequency is 3880.0 MHz. Polarization is vertical, and audio is monaural at 6.80 MHz. In Alaska and Hawaii, NASA TV is available on AMC-7, Transponder 18C, C-Band, at 137 degrees west longitude. The frequency is 4060.0 MHz. Polarization is vertical, and audio is monaural at 6.80 MHz. NASA TV is webcast at:

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

Answer 9

It would take someone like Richard Branson.
Someone who loves aviation, has loads of money, and has vision to make it commerically viable .

Answer 10

A miracle.
It only works properly above Mach 5 and will use more weight of fuel than the weight of the aircraft.
OK, the technology works and it might have military uses but, as for commercial flights, forget it.