The conventional ski-jump method of launching an airplane at sea has reportedly been updated by Chinese researchers for the hypersonic era to make space travel simpler and safer, according to a report by the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
Scaled-down models of an orbital plane, similar to the space shuttle, and a hypersonic carrier were utilized by Wang Yunpeng, associate professor at the Institute of Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and his colleagues to evaluate the technique at seven times the speed of sound.
Modifying Ski-Jump Technology
The results claim that ski-jump technology, which is considered outdated in modern aircraft carriers, may be modified for orbital launches from near space.
To imitate rocket engine activation, the researchers used a piston to propel a 1/80 scale plane from a three-foot-long model carrier as China's JF-12 wind tunnel reached Mach 7.
The plane took off from the top of the carrier in an instant, and as the tunnel powered down, it fell to the ground and shattered into multiple pieces.
The research team claims that this costly and brief trial proved the viability and efficiency of the active separation technique.
SCMP notes that the JF-12 is one of the most potent wind tunnels in the world, simulating chemical explosion shock waves with hot airflow moving at hypervelocity.
The harsh circumstances of hypersonic flight were accurately replicated, but they can only last for one second.
According to the researchers, there was sufficient time to confirm that the modified ski-jump design, when compared to conventional separation techniques, removed the space between the two plane bodies and minimized the chance of collision.
The ski-jump aboard conventional carriers serves as a brief runway for aircraft, providing them just enough lift to take off from the deck propelled solely by their weight while the carrier is moving at full speed against the wind at around 60 km/h (37mph), as per SCMP.
The researchers leveled the upward slope of the ski-small jump to produce an entirely flat surface for the hypersonic version to lessen the drag that results when two vehicles split at incredibly high speeds.
When the plane approached the end of the runway during the wind tunnel experiment, the crew saw that it nosed up due to a push from the shock waves generated under the upper front section of the space plane.
The jet nosed down as a result of another group of shock waves that developed near the tail just as it was about to take off from the carrier platform.
Read also: China: Kerosene Engine for Jets: Can Travel Faster than the Speed of Sound, Tested Earlier this Year
Straight Separation
According to Wang's team, the two opposing forces balanced each other out to produce a smooth, straight separation.
Additionally, they created an automated system to control every aspect of the experiment, from the mechanical tools to the high-speed cameras that recorded the separation.
Wang said that a full-sized upper-stage space plane with rocket engines producing 1,500 kilonewtons of thrust would be able to lift off in about eight seconds and weigh 87 tonnes.
The results from the shock tunnel had to be combined with experiments that had longer testing times, according to the researchers, before the device was prepared to leave the lab.
