GE Aerospace's new hypersonic engine could change air travel
GE Aerospace just pulled off a big milestone: their new ATLAS hypersonic engine, reported on September 25, underwent its first captive carry flight test.
This engine uses a solid-fuel ramjet design (no moving parts!) and could push vehicles past Mach 5—that's over 6,000km/h.
If all goes well, this tech might totally change how fast we travel or how quickly military jets get around.
Engine strapped to an F-104 Starfighter for test run
Backed by the US Department of War, the ATLAS program swaps out messy liquid fuels for a simpler solid hydrocarbon lining. That means lighter engines and better efficiency.
For this test run, engineers strapped the engine to an F-104 Starfighter and hit speeds up to Mach 2.2 to see how it handled real-world conditions like crazy vibrations and heat.
The ramjet itself wasn't fired up yet—that's coming soon in future tests!