Chinese Testing A Jet Engine That Will Be ‘Able To Reach Anywhere On Earth Within 2 Hours’

The hypersonic wind-tunnel. Photo: Handout 

SCMP: Chinese team test jet engine ‘able to reach anywhere on Earth within 2 hours’ 

 * Prototype flown in hypersonic wind tunnel simulating flight conditions at nine times the speed of sound   

 * The ‘sodramjet’ engine could offer the biggest hope so far of commercial flight reaching hypersonic speed, the scientists say 

Chinese scientists have built what they claim is a revolutionary plane engine for Mach 16 flight. An aircraft powered by the engine could reach anywhere in the world within two hours, they said. 

The test flight of a prototype in a hypersonic wind tunnel in Beijing suggested unprecedented performance in terms of thrust, fuel efficiency and operational stability. 

The engine could also serve “reusable trans-atmospheric planes [that will] take off horizontally from an airport runway, accelerate into orbit around the Earth, then re-enter into the atmosphere, and finally land at an airport,” said the scientists, led by Professor Jiang Zonglin of the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Mechanics in a peer-reviewed paper published in the Chinese Journal of Aeronautics on Saturday. 

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WNU Editor: There was a time when the West had an advantage over China's air force because of their  superiority in aircraft engines and avionics. The West still has the advantage in avionics, but in aircraft engines .... it looks like china is catching up.

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