4 ms·

Ok, these guys claim to have invented a great engine, really just the pre-cooler. Why are they trying to build a plane instead of licensing it to others? That

Ok, these guys claim to have invented a great engine, really just the pre-cooler. Why are they trying to build a plane instead of licensing it to others? That seems to be several orders of magnitude more difficult and increases the likelihood of failure.

imaginenore 12y ago
Do you know any Mach 5 planes?
- jschwartzi 12y ago
  Does he know of anyone in the tightly-regulated airline industry who would be crazy enough to build a completely new airframe and engine around a currently-experimental precooler?
  - foobarian 12y ago
    And using LH2 and LOX as fuel? With 3g acceleration? :-)
    - aragot 12y ago
      At that speed, I wonder what accidents will look like. I respect this technology as totally serious but in case of accident the NTSB may just delegate the investigation to a Darwin prize: Is the plane sensitive to slight variations, like a few people walking in the alley? Since at Mach 5 we can expect a 5000K temperature for the dislocated parts [1], will the pieces completely burn and disintegrate before falling back to Mach 1, effectively acting as a MH370 at each accident, by design? Can we at least have a video of that on 9gag? Or will we have to search a 5,000-km radius if we have a 20minutes uncertainty for the accident window? [1] http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_entry#Shock_layer_gas_physics http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_entry#Shock_layer...
      - marcosdumay 12y ago
        With LH2 and LOx as fuel-oxidizer, whatever are the consequences of speed, they'll be over a completely pulverized ex-airplane, not over entire parts. Also, with that to speed, I wonder how big a runway this thing would need. It would probably operate on a completely separated airport, faw away from cities.
- madaxe_again 12y ago
  Sure. The X-51. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-51 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-51
  - imaginenore 12y ago
    You might as well have linked to an ICBM page. X-51 is unmanned, and hasn't flown at mach 5 for longer than 4 minutes.
    - madaxe_again 12y ago
      It is however a winged craft with an air breathing engine, commonly known as "a plane".

imaginenore 12y ago

Do you know any Mach 5 planes?

jschwartzi 12y ago
Does he know of anyone in the tightly-regulated airline industry who would be crazy enough to build a completely new airframe and engine around a currently-experimental precooler?
- foobarian 12y ago
  And using LH2 and LOX as fuel? With 3g acceleration? :-)
  - aragot 12y ago
    At that speed, I wonder what accidents will look like. I respect this technology as totally serious but in case of accident the NTSB may just delegate the investigation to a Darwin prize: Is the plane sensitive to slight variations, like a few people walking in the alley? Since at Mach 5 we can expect a 5000K temperature for the dislocated parts [1], will the pieces completely burn and disintegrate before falling back to Mach 1, effectively acting as a MH370 at each accident, by design? Can we at least have a video of that on 9gag? Or will we have to search a 5,000-km radius if we have a 20minutes uncertainty for the accident window? [1] http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_entry#Shock_layer_gas_physics http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_entry#Shock_layer...
    - marcosdumay 12y ago
      With LH2 and LOx as fuel-oxidizer, whatever are the consequences of speed, they'll be over a completely pulverized ex-airplane, not over entire parts. Also, with that to speed, I wonder how big a runway this thing would need. It would probably operate on a completely separated airport, faw away from cities.
madaxe_again 12y ago
Sure. The X-51. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-51 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-51
- imaginenore 12y ago
  You might as well have linked to an ICBM page. X-51 is unmanned, and hasn't flown at mach 5 for longer than 4 minutes.
  - madaxe_again 12y ago
    It is however a winged craft with an air breathing engine, commonly known as "a plane".