According to the founder of the REL company that developed the engine and the plane, this is the biggest breakthrough since the invention of the jet engine.
A successful test of a new jet engine known as SABER that will be able to launch a plane into space and thus be able to reach anywhere in the world in less than 4 hours.
The engineers of the British REL company (Reaction Engines) overcame major technical obstacles that had stopped progress in the development of the aircraft for over thirty years.
REL designed a system that cools the engine air from a thousand degrees Celsius to minus 150 degrees in less than a hundredth of a second - six times faster than the blink of an eye.
The plane has the potential to accelerate to a speed of Mach 5.5 or 7,240 km/h - or 5.5 times the speed of sound. This week the company carried out the experiments in collaboration with the European Space Agency. The agency confirmed that the goals of the experiment were achieved.
The engine is a central component of the Skylon space plane being prepared - which should take off and land at normal airports but fly through space. This means fast travel anywhere around the world.
"The REL team has been trying to solve this problem for over thirty years and now they have finally done it," said REL founder Alan Bond. "Innovation does not happen overnight, independent experts have confirmed that a full engine can now be demonstrated. The propaganda engine has the potential to revolutionize our lives in the 21st century in the same way that the jet plane revolutionized the 20th century."
Now the company needs 382 million dollars to continue the project and take it off the planning table and into space.
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To anonymous - I will speak.
Benjamin May, thank you very much for the detailed explanation and correction
To its employees
Cooling in such cases is achieved by streaming
The cryogenic liquids (hydrogen and oxygen) around the desired area
Cool - before putting them in the engine.
In this way, two goals are achieved at the same time: the area is also cooled
(usually this is the engine nozzle) and also heat the fuel
so that it does not waste energy in the burning process.
to SAFKAN
A jet engine uses compressed air pressure as it goes
The movement of the engine (plane) is forward but it needs propulsion
otherwise bring him to minimum airspeed where he can
begin to act.
In contrast to the thruster engine, the engine on which we are talking about is an article according to Wikipedia
(and thanks to the cat) is an Air-Breathing Rocket Engine
That is: a rocket engine that creates movement and pressure (similarly to a launcher
A jet except that it includes a rocket that continues to operate as an engine and emits a mixture
rich in the essential fuel for combustion so that some of it will mix and burn with
The oxygen in the atmosphere in the second phase. In another variation another breathing rocket engine
The mixture leaving the rocket is balanced and the air is compressed only to
come out at a higher pressure. It is worth noting that the invention is not new and a rocket engine
A breather was also used in the HNM missile. The Russian S.A. "Gainfall" in the war
Yom Kippur
To Ovadia. The shuttles ascended with rocket propulsion and returned as gliders.
Since he did not use an air-pressure rocket engine (and they did not use it at all
in free air for propulsion) there was no need to cool the incoming air.
I don't know the reason for the need to cool the air, but it is possible
And the problem is not because of the possibility of an explosion in contact with the jet fuel
(hydrogen) but the need to fill the combustion space - just like in an intercooler
(intercooler) in supercharged cars and trucks.
There is some information on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SABRE_(rocket_engine)
to SAFKAN
Thank you very much for the detailed explanation and correction!!!
If I understand correctly, the speed is lower than the ferries because their only form of propulsion is a rocket?
Now I remember reading (if I remember correctly) that the late ferries reached a speed of 27,000 km/h.
Of course not all the time. But……
And again. Even though the speed of the new plane is much slower and therefore does not need cooling, isn't the speed increasing during entry into the atmosphere???
And again, thank you.
Ovadia
Below is a close explanation, as far as I understood. (You are probably wrong about the period of time in which air cooling is required).
It's a shame that the "Space" forum on the Tafoz portal was closed several years ago, where they would have given a more accurate explanation than what I'm giving here.
The cooling of the air is necessary in the first segment of the flight (before starting the engines in the ROCKET MODE which is done in the second segment of the flight). In the first segment of the flight, the engine operates in atmospheric mode. In the atmospheric mode there is oxygen consumption from the atmosphere by compressing air from the atmosphere into the engine (probably an airplane engine using the air damper method). Because of the compression of the air - the temperature of the air rises to something like a thousand degrees Celsius (if I remember). At this high temperature, mixing the air with the hydrogen will cause an explosion, since hydrogen is highly explosive, so it is necessary to cool the air before it mixes with the hydrogen. The hydrogen itself is in compressed tanks the entire time of the flight, what changes in the different modes is only the source of the oxygen. The atmospheric mode in the first section is until the plane reaches an altitude of 30 kilometers (30 kilometers according to my memory).
In the second segment of the flight (above 30 km altitude) when the rocket mode is activated, there is no need for cooling because the oxygen is not supplied from the atmosphere but from oxygen tanks. The very act of emitting compressed oxygen and diluting it to non-compressed oxygen cools it (a well-known thermodynamic law). Flying in a rocket mode using the hydrogen-oxygen method has been known for at least 50 years, so there is not much innovation in this.
In the third section, after the rocket mode (when you return to an altitude of 30 kilometers or less) - there is no need to fly immediately. At first it is possible to stall (engines silenced) until the speed of the plane becomes low. When the plane's speed is low, the problem of air heating is less critical. So you are wrong on this point.
The speed of the new aircraft is much lower than the speed of a spacecraft such as the space shuttles of the last 30 years, so there is no need for ceramic cooling.
An air damper engine is also known as a jet engine (if I'm not mistaken).
After such a breakthrough, it does not seem that there will be a problem to raise such an amount.
Now the company needs 382 million dollars to continue the project and take it off the planning table and into space
Now will they make a service room or are they collecting donations here on the site?
Eli - about the Concorde
The Concorde is one of the safest airplanes ever built. One accident in 30 years or so is not bad at all!
The plane had malfunctions, but relative to its working conditions, they weren't many either.
It's a bit disappointing to see so many inappropriate comments. If there is something to comment on, they comment. And if not……..
Kind of comments like you can save maybe to YNET or to Meko but mostly on Facebook, and believe me I write a lot of nonsense because that's the place to laugh at people and with people.
In any case, I flow with Neta.
Is there not a trace of detail/hint how they reached such a fast cooling???
As far as I understand, the need for cooling is during reentry into the atmosphere, due to the high friction with the air.
And if so, is it possible to install a similar system to the plane itself or to the flute and solve the problem of the weight and detachment of the ceramic bricks in the late shuttles (assuming they still existed)??? Perhaps such a solution will help in lowering the "astronomical" launch costs.
I would be very happy if someone could correct me if I was wrong, especially regarding the need for cooling at the entrance to the atmosphere. That is, if this problem is also related to the engine and not just the body???
As long as they don't remind us of the "Concord", remember the curse. According to what I understood, his problem was rapid material fatigue. Did they solve this with the plane in question???????
What height should the plane reach?
It is also interesting how noisy this engine is compared to the engines that exist today.
Thank you for the fast cooling. How about an explanation of why it's good? Is this part of how the system works? Is that what solved the obstacle? And what were the obstacles at all? Or is cooling an ice cream chopper after 30 years of work? A little explanation wouldn't hurt.
With us, you've already exceeded the speed of light, you hear the beeping of the car behind you even before you've seen the traffic light change to green.
Fast flight is great! Usually you arrive at a new place and are disappointed, so you can go home and not even miss a day of work.
The article you refer to is 2004. Besides, let's say you get anywhere in no time, what will you do there when you get there?
How beautiful, it will save us time on the way to Iran..