Word: ramjet
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...speed of sound and doesn't carry any fuel. Sound like a blue-sky pipe dream? One day last July, 300 km above the South Australian Desert, that dream became a reality in the form of the HyShot scramjet. A scramjet (that's top-gun shorthand for "supersonic ramjet") is a jet engine that is powered by oxygen it scoops out of the air as it flies, so it's not weighed down by a fuel tank (though it needs an initial boost to get going). This summer's launch represents the first time a scramjet has flown outside...
Scramjet is short for supersonic combustion ramjet. It uses the rush of air at high speed to ignite fuel and produce thrust, rather than relying on compressed air from a jet engine's fan blades. As well as being capable of hypersonic speeds (greater than Mach 4), scramjets get their oxygen from the air rather than tanks (as rockets do), reducing cost and freeing up space for cargo or passengers. They are also currently environmentally friendly: all three models under test run on pollution-free hydrogen...