05-27-2010, 10:59 PM
Ted King wrote:
Could a scramjet missle survive the heating from "friction" that would happen at Mach 6 in the lower atmosphere?
I was about to respond until I read Ted's post. His answer alludes to another issue.
My guess would be the purpose of this research is not a hypersonic scramjet cruise missile. I'm pretty sure a scramjet engine is not powerful enough to overcome the huge drag an air vehicle would encounter in the lower atmosphere (particularly on the 'deck').
Even if you wanted to develop a weapons system that could streak to its target in the upper atmosphere, you'd ultimately have to descend to the thick air of sea level, which would require some kind of rocket motor to maintain hypersonic velocities, and even then you probably won't get much past Mach 4 (again, due to the tremendous drag at sea level). Even this scenario is unlikely due to the need of the rocket motor to maintain a powered descent for too many miles.