Atlanta company Hermeus is setting its sights on Mach 4 next year to beat the Mach 3.3 benchmark set by the SR-71 Blackbird in 1976. See the Chimera hybrid engine successfully switching between low-speed turbojet and hypersonic ramjet modes.
Funded by the U.S. Air Force, the company is promoting the Quarter Horse Project. This is a nugget, arrow-shaped, remote-controlled UAV designed to sprint faster than any aircraft yet.
With funding just returned in 2021, the pace of this development has been pretty rough, with Hermeus claiming it’s on track to break the speed record for a fully air-breathing aircraft again next year.
To get there, you need an engine similar to Blackbird. A hybrid propulsion unit that operates in two stages. When you need maximum thrust at hypersonic speed, you need a ramjet. But the ramjet does not work without a pressure and temperature of airspeed at least three times his speed of sound.
Hermes
So hybrid. Hermeus designed and built an engine called his Chimera that ran a ramjet and a slow turbojet in the same tube. Turbojets can also function in a stationary state, allowing the quarterhorse to take off from the runway and accelerate to Mach 3 before coming to a stop there. Supersonic intake air is sent around the turbojet into the ramjet, which compresses and ignites, blasting the aircraft to its maximum speed.
The team brought the Chimera engine to the Notre Dame Turbomachinery Laboratory last year and installed it on a bench in a high-Mach test facility specially modified to deliver intake air at enough speed to simulate Mach 4 flight. I was. Engineers blasted jets, usually late at night, to mitigate the insane electricity bills associated. The test campaign lasted five months until the Hermeus team announced in November that he had achieved a complete and stable transition between the turbojet and ramjet phases.
Hermeus co-founder and chief technology officer Glenn Case said in a press release: “Completing this test on the ground will greatly reduce the risk of a delayed flight test for the Quarter Horse his campaign. [this] Year. “
Hermes
NDTL Director Joshua Cameron said, “We are delighted that Hermeus has chosen NDTL as their partner for this exciting test program.” I’m very proud of the team that developed and ran a successful test campaign on a very aggressive schedule.”
Beyond the Quarterhorse, Hermeus plans a large Darkhorse unmanned platform, running a giant Pratt & Whitney F100 engine from the F16 as a turbojet stage. The machine aims to achieve sustained hypersonic flight at Mach 5.
Hermes
But Hermeus’ end goal is not military. The final plan at this stage is a Mach 5 vehicle with a titanium alloy body, a range of about 4,600 miles (7,400 km) and capable of carrying up to 20 passengers on 125 different transoceanic routes. To build a civil commercial hypersonic airliner. This “Halcyon” plane is a monster at an altitude of 90,000 feet, higher than the legendary Blackbird was allowed to cruise, and from Paris to New York he will blow you up in 90 minutes.
Five times faster than any commercial aircraft on the market today, the Halcyon is exponentially more difficult to build, test and certify than a supersonic jet, so frankly it’s a dream at this stage. looks like a story. His Florida company, Aerion, is shutting down in 2021, even though pre-orders for a 50-passenger Mach 1.4 jet exceeded his US$10 billion. Needless to say, this was a giant leap from developing a military UAV to getting a hypersonic airliner certified for commercial flight, to series production, let alone allowed to fly at that speed. Don’t hold your breath for this one.
Still, Hermeus has come a long way since its inception in 2018. It’s a young company with a very young-looking team working on groundbreaking gear. They’re shooting for the moon, but who knows where they’ll land? Check out the engine bench test in the video below. Great as expected.
Hypersonic Engine Test Milestone
Source: Hermes
