The new engine will give a boost to hypersonic space flight.

 

China has made very big work with MHD (MagnetoHydrodynamic Drive). Those ion thrusters are ionizing air at the forward of the engine and then the magnetic system will pull it backward. Other names for the MHD are MDD(MagnetoDynamic Drive) or plasma ion thruster. 

The plasma jet engine called PPT (Pulsed Plasma Thruster) is the system that can drive aircraft higher and faster than anytime before. The nuclear reactor or gas turbine inside the core of the hypersonic aircraft can create electricity for that system.  Pulsed plasma thrusters can give things like jet fighters new abilities. 

That kind of system is developed also by Russians and NASA. And its purpose is to accelerate the aircraft to hypersonic speed. In that kind of system, the carrier plane would take the space shuttle near the orbiter where the orbiter shuttle will release to operate at orbiter. 

The original shuttle constructions by NASA the plans were to take the space shuttle near the edge of the atmosphere by using large-size carrier aircraft. Then the rocket engines of the shuttle would start. And it can operate at the orbiter. 

There were at least plans for making the EMU (Enhanced Mission Unit). That is the internal extra-fuel tanks for the space shuttle. I don't know did a real space shuttle ever use that system. But the shuttle program's first test flights by using the space shuttle launched from the back of the Boeing 747 caused speculations that this version of launch could use in some shuttle flights. 

There is the possibility that the large shuttle will take to the edge of the atmosphere. Then the rocket engines will start. And then that full-scale system will release the miniature shuttle. The miniature shuttle can also be launched by using some other vehicle. And it can take satellites to the cargo bay of the larger shuttle. 

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3168220/can-chinas-experimental-engine-supercharge-hypersonic-space-race

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_thruster

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_propulsion_engine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsed_plasma_thruster

Image 1) https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3168220/can-chinas-experimental-engine-supercharge-hypersonic-space-race

https://interestandinnovation.blogspot.com/

Writing about interplanetary flight

https://gamesandtehories.blogspot.com/

Kimmo Huosionmaa

When we are thinking about nuclear thermal rocket propulsion and Mars-flights, we are facing the solution called "Orion". This nuclear-powered rocket could travel interplanetary routes by using small nuclear bombs for giving thrust to those devices. The idea is that neutron bombs would be fired behind that spacecraft, and that would give it extremely high speed because the radioactive particles would push spacecraft forward.

One of the ideas is to use machine-gun, what is loaded with bullets, what are made by using the highly enriched radioactive material, and they would shoot thru the electric arc, what would cause fission in that ammunition, what would give thrust to that thing. But the problem is to create the electricity for that spacecraft. Spacecraft would always need also electricity for its systems.

That's why the main engine solution for that journey was chosen NERVA (Nuclear Energy Rocket Vehicle Application), what is like a normal rocket, but it is nuclear reactor inside. The NERVA solution deletes the dead weight and the nuclear power would give also thrust for braking. In this situation, the nuclear rocket would turn to give thrust to forward, and this brake the spacecraft.  The most modern version of the spacecraft, what would be used to travel other planets is the hybrid system.

The nuclear reactor, what uses the closed-cycle cooling system would give the needed electricity for the electric systems of the spacecraft. And also at the beginning of the journey can be used the same methodology with "Orion". In the back of the Interplanetary spacecraft would be installed the plate, and the nuclear bomb would send this spacecraft in the very high speed.

And then the system would transfer to use NERVA or WARP-system, what could give extremely high speed for spacecraft. WARP is actually the particle accelerator, what is connected to the spacecraft, and what sucks ions from the space thru it. There is a theory, that this kind of device could someday break the cosmic speed limit. Traveling faster than light is basically a very simple thing. The spacecraft would accelerate to the speed of light and inside it, something would be accelerate to higher speed.

In some theories, this kind of thing would be the magnetic rail, what would accelerate some particles to the 20% of the speed of light, and it would be launched when spacecraft will travel precisely the speed of light. This thing would make by installing the particle accelerator in the spacecraft, what uses WARP, and the accelerator would shoot the atoms forward when the speed of the spacecraft would be high enough. Sometimes has been discussed the opportunity to use electromagnetic radiation for the breaking the light wall. The thing, what makes electromagnetic radiation so fascinating is that there is no thrust and that thing would not need any ions, what would give retard for the spaceship.  This kind of spacecraft is still at the theoretical level, but maybe they are someday in use and travel to other planets.

The thing, what makes this kind of electromagnetic devices more interesting, than NERVA, is that they don't need the different propellant for giving thrust, and this means that the system would be lighter. But as we know the interplanetary travel is extremely difficult. The WARP-craft would give solution for traveling in our own solar system. But that system needs very strong magnets to work properly, and that means that the only thing, what is needed is a nuclear reactor.

The nuclear-powered cruise missile is not a new idea.

https://pimeakronikka.blogspot.com/

Kimmo Huosionmaa

The idea of the nuclear-powered missiles and rockets is not new and during the Cold War, the United States military created the idea of using the nuclear reactor in the high-speed cruise missile. A benefit for that missile was that it could fly even years with extremely high speed, but the problem was pollution, what denied the testing of that weapon. That missile could fly across the earth by using the nuclear reactor, but the project canceled because the pollution was the problem. That attempt was called as "PROJECT PLUTO".


This nuclear-powered ramjet engine was very simple. The burning fuel was replaced with the nuclear reactor, what would give an extremely powerful punch for that weapon, and the idea was to make supersonic cruise missile, what was full of sub-warheads, and what was capable to destroy multiple targets in the Soviet Union. The pollution of that engine was extremely high, and the radioactive fallout would pollute large areas in the route of this missile. The nuclear ramjet bases the reactor, what would change the output power simultaneously, and that would give the pressure waves in the motor, what would push this weapon forward.


The cooling system bases that the high-speed air would transfer the heat away from the reactor. The production of this weapon is very difficult because it leaves the highly radioactive components behind it, and that's why the test flights would be very difficult. And the radioactive material would be delivered to the large areas. This technology is of course very interesting, and now Russians are working with this kind of project. So there is nothing new under the sun.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pluto

https://www.facebook.com/333729154405/posts/10156884900469406/

The electric arc in the jet motors

X-15 Rocket plane (illustration photo)
(https://theaviationist.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/X-15.jpg)

https://gamesandtehories.blogspot.com/

Kimmo Huosionmaa

Do you know what is the "electric arc" jet engine? Originally this engine was created for interplanetary flight. Basically, this engine is the rocket, where the electric arc would replace the burning in the combustion chamber. And that rocket would not need the oxygenize the fuel for burning. In many scenarios, this rocket would need the nuclear reactor for creating the electric arc, but that is not true. The electricity, what is needed could be created by putting dynamo in the turbine pump of that system.


The use of an electric arc in the jet engines is the fascinating idea because that motor would not need to form any special way. Even the straight tube would be enough if there is a flap system in both sides. The system might look like the flap motor, what is used in V-1 "Flying bombs" in the 1940's, but the electric arc motors have one big difference.


The rise of the pressure in the tube would be done by using the electric arc, and this motor would not need fuel for creating the pressure in the tube. In some scenarios, I have thought that this motor could work without nuclear power. The system needs only the high power capacitor for creating the electric arc, what would give the thrust for the aircraft.


That engine would work like this. First, the flaps would let the fuel to the tube, and then the electric arc would be created. The electric arc would raise the temperature and volume of the gas inside the tube, and then the backside flaps would open, and the gas would be exhausted with force. And if the power of that system is high enough, the air would be heated enough, that there would be no need for extra fuel.