Hypersonic Jet

grabcad

This is an idea that has been in the works since the 50's. The idea is to get a spacecraft all the way up to the upper atmosphere to the edge of space and let the acceleration due to gravity do most of the work. The jet would be able to carry about 50 people at a time and would travel at around Mach 15 without a sonic boom (The concord went about Mach 2). The jet is powered by two different engines, that would work at different stages of ascent. The first engine, called a SCRAM jet ( Supersonic Combustion Ramjet), is located on the underside of the jet. The second engines are conventional rocket engine located at the back. The jet would be launched by the rockets to a specific velocity after which the Scramjet would activate and propel jet further until it achieves hyper sonic flight. The landing sequence would be similar to what the US space shuttles did. This vehicle is already in the works, and will probably be around in 2040 when highspeed personal transport is required and Carbon nano-tubes are easier to manufacture as the weight of the vehicle will need to be low and there needs to be high strength and heat resistant materials. The hyper sonic jet will most likely be used by the military and Space agencies (as they are the people who are actively developing it ,see x-43) and more wealthy individuals until the technology becomes cheaper and more available. Renders and CFD will be up soon