26 January 2008

$750 Million for Hypersonic Demonstrator

DARPA is getting$750 million for its "Blackswift" hypersonic demonstrator.

It's performance is fairly mild as hypersonics go, about Mach 6-7, but it will take off and land under its own power, and use conventional hydrocarbon, as opposed to cryogenic fuels, so the utility of such a craft is significantly more than a lot of the other demonstrators.

It won't need fuel tanks that are basically Dewar flasks, and it's tanks should be much smaller, since hydrogen is much less dense than conventional jet fuel.

It integrates a turbine for low speed propulsion, using an, "inward turning inlet"





As you can see, this concept looks a bit less "tubby" than hydrogen powered systems/

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