Briefs: Hypersonic review; Space Access returns

This 'Silver Bullet' concept looks great…but I would still like to see a hypersonic craft that can, and will be made. Let alone a company that actually have the ability to build one.
defiantly not just a manufacturing job, the cost for this would also be quite large due to the materials required.
But very cool concept.

Posted by Ed at 12/14/07 13:25:11

Popular Science should change its name to Pie in The Sky, that's what the vast majority of its articles about future technologies have been. When no one has the balls to take another stab at supersonic, even with tremendous recent progress on fuel efficiency and noise reduction, who exactly is going to sink the resources into safe, reliable, cost-effective hypersonic - a far tougher nut to crack? "The Hypersonic Age is Near"...I don't know whether to laugh or cry at garbage like that. They'll reprint the article ten years from now when the next set of incremental advances are made, and then again ten years later.

Posted by Cynic and a biscuit at 12/14/07 15:30:39

The only reason a practical RLV hasn't been built yet is because the government would rather beat a dead horse see ares I or waste money on some pointless war then fund something that could benefit human kind.
If it got funded DCY for example would have likely worked but it wasn't what the military wanted and NASA felt it suffered from NIH.

Posted by Washu at 12/14/07 20:46:50

I checked more on the scram jet the hypersonic age just might be near.
If they can just use that scram jet to even just mach 12 or 15 it'll make an SSTO RLV practical.

That would cut the mass of oxidizer needed by over 80% over a pure rocket orbital vehicle.

As for money all you need to do is convince congress China is also pursuing a scram jet powered vehicle.

Posted by Washu at 12/14/07 21:04:01

If it might benefit mankind, Republicans would block it. They're morally opposed to human survival.

Posted by Brian Swiderski at 12/14/07 22:06:20

"If it might benefit mankind, Republicans would block it. They're morally opposed to human survival."

It is quality postings such as the above why Mr. S is no longer permitted to post over at Rand's board.

Way to represent the space settlement crowd Brian!

Posted by Mike Puckett at 12/15/07 10:23:19

"If it got funded DCY for example would have likely worked but it wasn't what the military wanted and NASA felt it suffered from NIH."

You're only half right. It was very much what 'the military' wanted, as it was clear that ELVs could never launch a constellation of space-based ballistic missile interceptor satellites at anything approaching an affordable cost. It began, after all, under DARPA.

The Air Force has more than once expressed a desire for a quick-reaction manned orbital spacecraft, it just doesn't want to pay for it from its OWN budget...

And NASA tends not to think in terms of small vehicles, small projects. (Though choosing to use discretionary NASA funds to continue DC-X after DARPA unloaded it, was probably the best decision he ever made. Espically in spite of the NIH attitude of some of the agency's centers.)

The follow-on to DC-X, the X-33, of course, went nowhere, trying to do too many exotic things at once, and becoming one of those big technological sandboxes I referred to, with little incentive for the prime contractor to complete. As opposed to the DC-X team that was taking smaller, incremental steps, with a small (not spread over multiple congressional districts) but dedicated and focused team.

Sadly, you'll find that only among the new private companies, now.

Posted by Frank Glover at 12/15/07 14:08:24

Way to represent the community with your mindless ad hominems, Puckett.

Posted by Brian Swiderski at 12/15/07 20:58:22

Much of the past work on hypersonic propulsion ended up being funneled into the military's top secret classified black vault where it has languished for years (and perhaps rightly so). The unobtainium myth has played well to keep this technology submerged and shrouded for several years. Only recently has the world stage and threats changed to where the hypersonic genie must be let out of the bottle for more general utilization and development. The time is right . . . seize it as Mr. Wurst is purposing to do! An incremental application such as that purposed by Wurst would be a perfect climate to develop it in. Modern materials, computers, CFD etc.. only serve to make hypersonics that much more practical and achievable for private development.

Posted by Doug Gard at 12/18/07 13:19:22

Re: Space Access

Old NewSpace firms never die, they just produce a new viewgraph ptich.

Posted by WiseSpacer at 12/19/07 10:09:42

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