Message posted by Andrew Howe on November 15, 2004 at 13:18:23 PST:
Less than current rocket power. It's more direct thrust. It's a whole lot more practical than rocket power, and it has a much higher potential for speed than other air breathing engines because it doesn't require moving parts- no fans for compression, the whole thing lets mach-speed air flow through it. I'm not sure how efficient the current model is, but it certainly has the potential to be more efficient than rocket power or ramjet- at least at high speeds. Speaking of higher speeds, scramjet can take some throttle- unlike rockets that are basically on or off... so it could potentially fit into an airplane that is used regularly. But all this info is from the press release on the thing... along with other information that's a whole lot more accurate than me. that's the official webpage of the project. knock yourself out.
http://www.nasa.gov/missions/research/x43-main.html
In Reply to: Re: X-34-- Live Update Link Here posted by Gabriel on November 15, 2004 at 12:42:06 PST:
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