Personal addition to the formal press release below: Mark was giving me text message updates as the countdown progressed. I was online using instant messenger to relay the progress to my mom and Sheryll! It was so thrilling to be able to share it "live" with them. Mark called me from his mobile phone shortly after the launch. The whoops and hollers in the room were SOOOO loud and joyous, it was truly the icing on the cake! He's now (Saturday morning) on his way home to Brisbane. Tomorrow is Father's Day (in the U.S., aussies celebrate it in September). So we are taking him to a restaurant called Blue Smoke. It is a BBQ restaurant that is owned/operated by an American. Ought to be FANTASTIC!!! They even have pumpkin pie and pecan pie on the menu. WHO CARES ABOUT DIETING!!! Look for my "review/report" next week.HIGH SPEED SUCCESS AT WOOMERA
Australia's Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) has
today successfully launched one of the world's fastest air-breathing
engine experiments, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for
Defence, Mr Peter Lindsay announced.
The scramjet engine experiment reached speeds of up to Mach 10,
approximately 11,000 km per hour, or ten times the speed of sound.
Scramjets are air-breathing supersonic combustion ramjet engines that
could make it possible for a two hour flight from Sydney to London.
"This research is a major boost to Australian and international
scramjet technology research," Mr Lindsay said.
"Today's flight rocketed to an altitude of 530km, and reached Mach 10
during re-entry," Mr Lindsay said.
"Australia is a world leader in hypersonics research."
"Scramjet research has taken place in Australia for over three
decades. We have active research programs in niche technologies of
scramjet propulsion as well as guidance and control at hypersonic
speeds."
The flight took place at the Woomera Test Facility in South Australia
under a collaborative effort between the United States' Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and DSTO, also representing
the research collaborators in the Australian Hypersonics Initiative
(AHI).
"This test has obtained the first ever flight data on the
inward-turning scramjet engine design," said Dr. Steven Walker, Deputy
Director of the Tactical Technology Office at DARPA. "DARPA will
compare this flight data to ground test data measured on the same
engine configuration in the US."
"We are pleased with this joint effort between the US and Australia
and believe that a hypersonic airplane could be a reality in the not
to distant future."
While DSTO was the lead Australian research agency for the flight, the
AHI's collaborative partners include the University of Queensland, the
University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy,
and the Australian National University, together with the State
Governments of South Australia and Queensland.
DSTO scientist Dr Warren Harch said hypersonic propulsion using
supersonic combustion ramjet (scramjet) technology offered the
possibility of very high speeds and fuel efficiencies.
"This technology has the potential to put numerous defence and
civilian aerospace applications within our reach during the next
couple of decades," Dr Harch said.
Hypersonics is the study of velocities greater than five times the
speed of sound (Mach 5) and could have a significant impact on Defence
as well as on international transport and future access to space.
Future defence applications for hypersonic vehicles include long-range
time critical missions, with civilian applications including low-cost
satellite launching and high-speed aircraft.
Dr Harch said DSTO's scientific contributions to the research program
had been the computer modelling of the combustion processes,
non-linear mechanics, guidance and control, and trajectory analysis.
"Assisting with telemetry collection is another important area, which
presents quite a challenge when working with a vehicle travelling at
hypersonic speeds," Dr Harch said.
As part of its continuing commitment to a research program in
Hypersonics, in November last year DSTO signed the $74 million
Hypersonics International Flight Research Experimentation (HiFire)
Agreement with the United States Air Force, under which up to ten
Hypersonic flight experiments are planned to occur at Woomera over the
next five years.
