Queensland scramjet edges closer to real world test

Must have been at least 15 years ago I was looking around the University of Queensland campus in Brisbane and picked up a uni newsletter with an article about research they were doing on something called a scramjet.

A scramjet is a concept for a space rocket that first gets sped up above Mach 1, and then is jamming the thin atmosphere into a scoop and can use that with fuel to burn as propellent, instead of the usual rocket way of carrying all the oxygen compressed on board too. once it kicks is, speeds of Mach 10 to 15 should be possible.

On an off over the years, other stories have popped up about this research still going on.

Then last year the US tested their X-51A scramjet. The first test was so-so and theydestroyed the craft, the second test in June this year also failed. However, it seemed UQ was losing the race.

But perhaps not. The German Aerospace Centre (DLR) is now reporting that they are conducting high speed wind tunnel tests for UQ, readying for a live test of a 1.8 metre version of the spacecraft over Woomera in March 2013. They say commercial reality is still a long way off though.

It will be interesting to see if this very long-term research project can finally pay off for UQ. One day it could do for UQ what the invention of wireless networking is now doing for CSIRO.