Hypersonic flight what does it mean

Recently, the un-manned XA used a scramjet , or supersonic combustion ramjet , to fly at Mach 7. Because of the pressure losses associated with the terminal shock of the inlet , a ramjet has very limited performance beyond Mach 5. Because lift and drag depend on the square of the velocity , the aircraft did not require a large wing area. For Mach numbers greater than five, the frictional heating of the airframe by the air becomes so high that very special nickel alloys are required for the structure.

For some proposed hypersonic aircraft, the skin is actively cooled by circulating fuel through the skin to absorb the heat. Activities: Guided Tours Navigation.. As an aircraft moves through the air, the air molecules near the aircraft are disturbed and move around the aircraft. Exactly how the air re-acts to the aircraft depends upon the ratio of the speed of the aircraft to the speed of sound through the air.

Because of the importance of this speed ratio, aerodynamicists have designated it with a special parameter called the Mach number in honor of Ernst Mach , a late 19th century physicist who studied gas dynamics. For aircraft speeds which are much greater than the speed of sound, the aircraft is said to be hypersonic. The chief characteristic of hypersonic aerodynamics is that the temperature of the flow is so great that the chemistry of the diatomic molecules of the air must be considered.

At low hypersonic speeds, the molecular bonds vibrate, which changes the magnitude of the forces generated by the air on the aircraft. This is, however, a massive technical challenge, and after years of research and technical development two test vehicles have recently flown with operating scramjets, the X, which achieved about 10 seconds of sustained thrust in flight at Mach 9. These are but baby steps in the direction of what might be the first missions for such an air breathing hypersonic vehicle for the military.

Moreover, there has been a long standing dream of a hypersonic transport — the dream of flying from London to Tokyo in 90 minutes. Although today there are many other considerations that drive the technology of the airplane, there will always be that ultimate dream of faster and higher, and that means hypersonic flight.

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