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Chinese Researchers have developed a novel way to launch fighters from aircraft carriers using the conventional Ski-Jump technique. According to the recent South China Morning Post (SCMP) report, scientists said that they had modified the Ski Jump for orbital launches from close to space.
However, the use of Ski-Jump technology to launch aircraft is now regarded as archaic. Whereas, a group of scientist working under the direction of Wang Yunpeng,an associate professor at the institute of mechanics of the Chinese academy of sciences in Beijing.
Moreover, they are attempting to adapt the Ski-Jump technology for use at hypersonic speeds in order to create a more practical,secure and affordable method of space travel.
An Expensive Short Tunnel Experiment
Yunpeng’s team conducted an experiment in which they launched a 1:80 scale model of a space shuttle from a meter-long model carrier using a piston to simulate rocket engine ignition under March 7 flight conditions inside the JF-12 wind tunnel.
Besides, in aircraft carriers, the Ski-Jump enables an aircraft to take off from a runway shorter than an ordinary take-off by giving them enough lift to leave the deck.
According to the researchers, the latest modified Ski-Jump design eliminated the distance between the two plane bodies compared it to the standard separation methods.
As per the Yunpeng, a full-sized upper stage space plane can weigh 87 tons and can achieve take off in around eight seconds. When it is propelled by rocket engines generating 1500 kilonewtons of force.
However, the technology is not yet ready for leaving the laboratory. Results says that the shock tunnel test is required with other experiments to longer testing duration.
A Fleet Of Hyper Sonic Planes By 2035
China is planning to build a fleet of civil hyper sonic planes by 2035. The planes will use the near-Earth orbit to transport passengers to anywhere on the planet within a time period of an hour.
Hence, China is fully in charge to establish an aircraft of high caliber and expand the fleet in over a decade after the first operation of the air craft.
According to Chinese scientists, such innovations will be able to function as a two stage to orbit launch platform for rocket powered space planes. Such planes will ferry tens of thousands of passengers beyond Earth’s atmosphere every year.
Moreover, the vehicle is powered by an under development engine called the magnetohydrodynamic MHD drive. The drive is said to generate thrust from an electricity charges fluid forced via it using an electromagnetic force.
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