UQ researchers congratulate NASA achievement

University of Queensland scramjet pioneers have congratulated the NASA team which today successfully flew a hypersonic, scramjet-powered aircraft at about 10 times the speed of sound.

Leader of the international HyShot™ program Professor Allan Paull from the Faculty of Engineering Physical Sciences and Architecture congratulated researchers associated with NASA’s X-43A hypersonic research vehicle which flew an airbreathing vehicle at almost Mach 10, or about 11,000km/hour, in restricted US airspace over the Pacific Ocean northwest of Los Angeles.

“Our heartiest congratulations go to them. It’s a well deserved success,” Professor Paull said.

Professor Paull and HyShot™ team members are in Woomera, South Australia, inspecting facilities in preparation for three scramjet experimental test flights in September, 2005.

Flights will be conducted at Mach 8, for British aerospace company QinetiQ and Japanese Aerospace Exploration agency JAXA, and Mach 10 for a joint US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency/Australian Hypersonics Initiative experiment.

The experimental flights are designed to further scramjet technology. Scramjets are air-breathing supersonic combustion ramjet engines. They are set to revolutionise the launch of small space payloads, such as communications satellites, by substantially lowering costs.

The UQ-led HyShot II flight was the first to achieve supersonic combustion, in a scramjet atmospheric test at Woomera on July 30, 2002 at speeds of more than Mach 8, or eight times the speed of sound.

Professor Paull will be in Brisbane on November 18 and available for comment at 07 3365 5652. For further information contact Chris Saxby at UQ Communications on 07 3365 2479.