Towards air-breathing rockets

Posted on: Jan. 19th, 2006 || Source: hindu.com | E-mail Article | Print Article

Towards air-breathing rockets

THE INDIAN Space Research Organisation (ISRO) added another feather to its cap when it successfully tested the use of oxygen moving at a speed of Mach 6 — six times the speed of sound — in laboratory conditions to produce a stable supersonic combustion lasting for a few seconds.

Put in a nutshell, the organisation has tested the scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) technology that uses air moving at supersonic speed (Mach 6) for ignition. The speed of sound is 750 km per second and is called Mach 1. Anything beyond Mach 1 is considered supersonic. Ramjets, on the other hand, use air at subsonic speed (below Mach 1) for ignition.

Joining the elite club

With this, India has joined the elite club comprising a handful of nations that are working on mastering the technology. The U.S., Japan, China, Russia, Australia, and some countries in Europe, according to an ISRO press release, are working on scramjet technology. But none, except the U.S., has tested it in an experimental flight.

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