WEBVTT

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preparations to fly a new high tech

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engine are currently underway at White

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sands missile range members from Air

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Force Research Laboratory , the

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National Aeronautics and Space

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Administration and the Naval Surface

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Warfare Center port enemy division .

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White Sands detachment are working

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together to ready the hypersonic

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International Flight research

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experimentation or high fire flight to

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research vehicle for launch . Later

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this year . The experiment itself is

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part of a joint effort between Nasa and

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the Air Force , with the Navy providing

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the rocket and launch system . The

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experiment will be flown on Hi Fire

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Flight two is an experiment being

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conducted to study and evaluate a

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special kind of engine called a

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scramjet scramjet or supersonic

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combustion ramjet and its related

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systems are being ready at White Sands

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for flight later this year . In Hawaii

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the high fire flight to scramjet as an

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advanced jet engine designed to

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function at extremely high speeds .

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Scramjet operates in what we call in

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the hypersonic area . Somewhere in the

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neighborhood between Mark five and Mark

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12 . Typical jet engines function by

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using a series of large fans to draw

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air into the engine and pressurize it .

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This pressurized air is then mixed with

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fuel at subsonic speeds and ignited ,

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which increases the air's temperature

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and generates even higher pressures .

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The engine that expands this hot

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pressurized air out of the back of the

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engine to generate thrust and push the

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engine and whatever it's attached to

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ford . A ramjet uses the same process

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but eliminates the fan . Instead , the

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ramjet uses its own ford momentum and

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shape to take in air from the outside ,

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slow it down to subsonic speeds and

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pressurize it feel is then injected and

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ignited , generating thrust similar to

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conventional jet engines . The high

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fire flight to scramjet works in

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roughly the same fashion as a ramjet ,

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with a key difference being that a

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scramjet doesn't slow the air down to

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subsonic speeds before mixing it with

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fuel and burning it , allowing the

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scramjet to operate more efficiently

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than the ramjet at higher speeds . The

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reason why a system like this is so

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important is because reaching and

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sustaining hyper velocity speeds is

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very hard to do . And designers of such

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aircraft have to leverage every

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resource possible because those

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velocities like anything else you're

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trying to do weight management . So you

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could design , you know , an engine

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that doesn't weigh as , you know ,

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weigh as much . Uh , so that's where

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the limitations are , you know , with

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the conventional kind of supersonic

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engines , where you see the turbines ,

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they're very heavy and they could only

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get you so fast since the scramjet only

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works at high speeds , it is typically

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brought up to speed using conventional

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technologies such as solid fuel rocket

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engines . In the case of the scramjet

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experiment being prepped at Wismer ,

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this means mounting it on top of a

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terrier terrier Oriole sounding rocket .

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The Navy are partnered up with them

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because we're basically the bus , we're

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providing the bus that uh , this

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payload is going to ride on the

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experiment will be conducted by

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launching the scramjet atop the rocket

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using the rockets first two stages to

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get to the proper altitude . The third

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stage with the payload still attached

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will coast unpowered into the right

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orientation needed for the experiment .

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Then the rocket's third stage will fire ,

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bringing the scramjet payload up to

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speed where the scramjet engine

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experiment will be activated . The high

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fire flight to scramjet experiment is

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not designed to be a complete vehicle .

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For this reason , the rocket is being

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used to push the scramjet up to the

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speed required for the engine to

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function , allowing scientists to focus

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on collecting data to better understand

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how the scramjet engine actually works

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for us . Is it really simplifies the

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payload systems that we need to have .

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We don't have to have the payload

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itself accelerate through that mock

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range . We can use the booster rocket

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to do that for us . So we can focus on

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really the science and the research

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objectives in the engine and the

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experiments that are on board the

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payload to ready the scramjet for its

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moment of hypersonic glory technicians ,

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engineers and researchers gathered at

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White sands missile range are looking

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at how the design will ride on the

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rocket that will launch it . White

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sands , technicians with engineers from

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Air Force research laboratories and

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Nasa take careful measurements to

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evaluate the weight distribution of the

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high fire flight to research vehicle .

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Since the rocket will spin in flight ,

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the payloads weight has to be well

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balanced to ensure a stable flight .

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Should the weight distribution be off ,

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the forces generated by the spin could

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cause the rocket to veer off course at

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this time , scramjet , similar to the

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one to be flown on high fire flight to

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are purely experimental systems , with

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only the experimental X 51 a aircraft

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utilizing such an engine in the future .

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It's hoped that scramjet technology

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will be used to power high speed

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military aircraft and weapons systems

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and power spacecraft as they accelerate

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through the atmosphere towards space .

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Are there are different weapon

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applications potential um , out there

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in the future ? Uh space access . So

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you use as a , as a mid stage , like a

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second stage boost engine for space

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access ?