TGIF.
And I almost forgot to put something together for this morning.
Almost.
I present to you an interesting article that is also scary. As we advance our technology to wonderful new frontiers one should remember that technology is a two edged sword. See 9/11.
World first: Oblique wave detonation engine may unlock Mach 17 aircraft
Link to full articleFirst the good part.
UCF researchers say they’ve trapped a sustained explosive detonation, fixed in place, for the first time, channeling its enormous power into thrust in a new oblique wave detonation engine that could propel an aircraft up to 17 times the speed of sound, potentially beating the scramjet as a hypersonic propulsion method……What does it all mean? Well, hypersonic air travel at speeds up to Mach 17 won’t just open the door to potential sub-30 minute flights between New York and Los Angeles. It’ll also enable spaceplanes to efficiently fly themselves right up into orbit without strapping themselves to rocket boosters
Wow, it will be a small world after all. Unfortunately it may not end up all being good news.
As our own David Szondy pointed out in this terrific hypersonic flight explainer from 2017, there’s not a radar or missile defense system in the world that could cope with a hypersonic missile at this point. What’s more, you wouldn’t even need a warhead on it to cause levels of devastation rivaling that of a nuclear bomb. “All that speed and all that inertia turns any research platform, recon unit, or passenger aircraft into a potential kinetic weapon,” writes Szondy. “They don’t need high explosives to destroy a target. All they have to do is hit it. In other words, any hypersonic vehicle is an intrinsic weapon given the proper modifications.”
The article gets a bit into the technology of the engines, well worth reading. Go check it out.
“up to 17 times the speed of sound . . .
…What does it all mean?”
They stand a chance of getting away from Kamala’s cackling when she’s asked a question?
The Kamala Kackle is not restrained by any laws of an Einsteinian universe.
Schroedinger’s presidency: Is Joe inside the lid, or not?
Dead or Alive? If only we can open the box and find out.
Don’t say Kamala or Einstein in the same sentence. It hurts.
Could this be the infancy stages of a new form of space propulsion? Carry some fuel and some O2 and you have your engine.
Interesting
Governor Lepetomane: A new oblique wave detonation engine that could propel an aircraft up to 17 times the speed of sound? A new oblique wave detonation engine that could propel an aircraft up to 17 times the speed of sound?? What’ll it cost, man, what’ll it cost?
Hedley Lamarr: [brings out a carton of trillion dollar bills] A box of these.
Sustained explosions will take a lot of beans…
Que Taggert and his posse.