From L.A. to Tokyo in 2 hours Japan successfully tests Mach 5 engine
Across the Pacific in two hours: the Japanese space agency Jaxa has successfully tested an engine that is designed to reach five times the speed of sound.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- The Japanese space agency Jaxa has successfully tested an engine that could soon carry passengers at up to five times the speed of sound.
- This would make it possible to fly between Tokyo and the Californian metropolis of Los Angeles in just two hours.
- However, there is still a long way to go. The research team is aiming to put the technology into operation in the 2040s.
After the Concorde was retired, it was said that civil air travel at supersonic speeds was at an end. But more than 20 years later, the race for the next high-speed aircraft is in full swing.
There are currently several such projects, the most recent of which comes from the Far East. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) has successfully tested an engine that could one day propel aircraft at five times the speed of sound. This was reported by "The Mainichi". According to the report, Jaxa tested the so-called ramjet engine on an experimental aircraft - but so far only as part of ground tests.
During the tests with the so-called "ramjet", the combustion of hydrogen with the entire airframe was tested for the first time. In a conventional engine, the air is compressed using rotors, whereas in a ramjet engine there are no moving parts. Instead, the air flow is slowed down and therefore heated up considerably. A hydrogen-based fuel is then injected and ignites. This causes the gases to expand and generate a recoil.
A long way to deployment
The challenge at high speeds lies in controlling the extremely high temperatures of up to 1000 degrees Celsius. According to Jaxa, it has now been possible to greatly limit the temperatures inside the airframe. During the test at Jaxa's Kakuda Space Center in Miyagi Prefecture, conditions were simulated that correspond to a flight at Mach 5 at an altitude of 25 kilometers, where the air pressure is only one hundredth of that at sea level.
However, this does not require a sinfully expensive prototype. The tests were carried out with a two-meter-long model. According to the report, the team confirmed that the engine and its heat resistance worked almost exactly as intended.
However, there is still a long way to go before a real hypersonic jet can be used. Jaxa is now planning to take the experimental aircraft into the air with a carrier system in order to get closer to a real test flight in the Mach 5 range. The technology could therefore be used in civilian hypersonic passenger aircraft in the future. The team, which also includes researchers from Waseda University in Tokyo, is aiming to put the technology into practice in the 2040s.
