New York to Tokyo in 2 hours

[maracle]

This article is pretty sciency but I think it sounds awesome:
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/aviatio...cbccdrcrd.html

The X-1 scramjet engine, which will eventually power the X-51A aircraft, is the most advanced scramjet engine ever built. The blowtorch blasting through the chamber was meant to simulate the extreme heat generated by flying faster than Mach 6. In all, the team at Langley would repeat this test 44 times. "We tested it at Mach 4.6, 5.0 and 6.5," says Curtis Berger, the X-51A program manager at PWR. "The amount of time that this thing was actually running and creating thrust was just about 17.8 minutes." He pauses to let that sink in. "Over 17 minutes of time on this engine. That's a lot of time for a scramjet engine."

To put things in context, the world's fastest jet, the Air Force's SR-71 Blackbird spy plane, set a speed record of Mach 3.3 in 1990 when it flew from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., in just over an hour. That's about the limit for jet engines; the fastest fighter planes barely crack Mach 1.6. Scramjets, on the other hand, can theoretically fly as fast as Mach 15—nearly 10,000 mph.

This could mean two-hour flights from New York to Sydney. It could also mean missiles capable of hitting targets on another continent at a moment's notice, and when you put it that way, it's not surprising that militaries around the world—the U.S., Australia, China and perhaps others—are trying to build them. After decades on the drawing board, it seems scramjet technology is finally about to arrive.

If my math is right a 747's max cruising speed is Mach 0.76, so flying at mach 6 would be sweet. On the other hand, that assumes we haven't destroyed ourselves with superfast missiles in the meantime...

[wong name]

lol, that would never happen for the average person.

[Dig]

That technology seems a wee bit scary. Going at speeds like that a small problem could become a very big problem quickly. Say you hit a bird going mach 6... oopps. However it would be a RUSH to fly so fast. Thanks for the article.

[ron2554]

Wong...forget about an average person, it can only happen to a lucky person... :P:D