China builds hypersonic jet engine capable of flying at 16 TIMES the speed of sound

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China is building hypersonic jet engine capable of flying at 16 TIMES the speed of sound that could fly anywhere in the world ‘in two hours’, Beijing says

  • The prototype is called a Soramjet engine and was tested in a wind tunnel in Beijing
  • Speeds reached at new Mach – the maximum tunnel test conditions
  • Researchers say analysis reveals engine would run up to Mach 16

By Joe Pinkstone For Mailonline

Posted: | Update:

A hypersonic jet engine that could travel at 16 times the speed of sound has been successfully tested in a Chinese wind tunnel, according to reports.

The prototype is called a Soramjet engine, and if ever scaled up and installed in commercial aircraft, it could be able to travel to any part of the world in under two hours.

Beijing researchers who led the project say the engine could be used to propel planes that take off from a traditional runway, orbit and land at an airport after re-entering the planet’s atmosphere.

If such hypersonic engines were to be brought under control, they could also be used as devastating military weapons.

A hypersonic jet engine that could travel at 16 times the speed of sound has been successfully tested in a Chinese wind tunnel, according to reports. In the photo, the Soramjet in the wind tunnel

A hypersonic jet engine that could travel at 16 times the speed of sound has been successfully tested in a Chinese wind tunnel, according to reports. In the photo, the Soramjet in the wind tunnel

According to the report, the new engine consists of a single-stage air intake that directs air into a combustion chamber where it ignited the onboard hydrogen.

According to the report, the new engine consists of a single-stage air intake that directs air into a combustion chamber where it ignited the onboard hydrogen.

Tests in the JF-12 shock tunnel in Beijing were carried out down to Mach nine or nine, nine times the speed of sound. The speed of sound is 767 mph.

The experiment was successful and the engine was running smoothly, reports the South China Morning Post.

The researchers revealed the revolutionary technology in a peer-reviewed scientific article published by Jiang Zonglin, professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The success at Mach nine was made possible by taking a different approach to the other known form of hypersonic jet engines, called scramjets.

Left: a photo of the tet engine provided in the scientific article. Right: its installation in the JF-12 wind tunnel in Beijing

Left: a photo of the tet engine provided in the scientific article. Right: its installation in the JF-12 wind tunnel in Beijing

These are different from the traditional turbojets seen on current airplanes and they have no moving parts.

Instead, they use their rapid speed to compress the air in front of them, which burns the fuel, creating propulsion.

However, these engines, which are still in their testing phase and have no real-world implications yet, have a major flaw that prevents them from exceeding Mach 7.

Chinese lunar probe hits moon during first stage of Chang’e-5 mission

A Chinese probe sent to collect 4.4 pounds of rocks from the moon’s surface and send them back to Earth has landed successfully, Chinese officials say.

The Chang’e-5 probe left for the moon on November 24 and has now landed in the preselected landing zone, according to a one-sentence government report.

The mission must be completed in one lunar day – roughly 14 Earth days – because the probe is not equipped to withstand the freezing night.

The probe adds to a series of increasingly ambitious missions in the Chinese space program, which ultimately hopes to land a human on the moon.

If the mission is successful, it will be the first time that samples from the lunar surface have been returned to Earth since the return of NASA’s last Apollo mission in 1972.

Resorting to compressing air in front of the engine and using it means that the inevitable shock waves – sonic ramps – would extinguish the flames, forcing the engine to shut down.

The soramjets are based on a theory originally put forward by an engineer named Richard Morrison in 1980 who stated that shock waves could be used to ignite fuel, not only negating the scramjet’s face problem, but turning it into a positive.

According to the report, the new engine consists of a single-stage air intake that directs air into a combustion chamber where it ignited the onboard hydrogen.

Professor Jiang led a team of experts who started building a machine using this technique from scratch.

It was successful and unlike the scramjets the new design managed to perform up to Mach nine conditions.

The wind tunnel has not been able to reproduce conditions beyond that, and there is no laboratory on Earth yet capable of testing the hypothesis that it could operate at Mach 16.

Although the results have been published in a journal, the content of the article should be carefully considered.

An anonymous expert not involved in the study told the SCMP that the publications are rigorously vetted to ensure that no information on the latest Chinese technology is disclosed.

This is due to the investment the Chinese government has in the hypersonic program for its applications as a weapon, which is shrouded in mystery and an avenue that the Asian superpower is actively pursuing.



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