Engineers at NASA have recently tested the engine that will eventually drive the gargantuan Space Launch System (SLS). The space agency has successfully trialed RS-25, as part of a 7.5 minute-long test. with three more to come in the next few months. Currently under developed, the SLS is touted as the most advanced and powerful…
Imagine a car that glides on the ground at speeds of up to 1,000 mph (around 1,600 km/h). For the last 10 years, Perth-based drag racing record-holder Rosco McGlashan, and his Aussie Invader team, have been working to turn this dream into a reality, with their innovative rocket-powered car. Known as Aussie Invader 5R, this badass…
With renewed interest in space exploration, in recent decades, scientists across the world are looking for ways to build more powerful rocket engines, as a way of optimizing spaceflight. For instance, the researchers at UK-based Reaction Engines have spent the last 20 years developing an innovative scramjet engine concept that can operate in both jet…
A team of three researchers, working at Boeing, has submitted a patent application for a laser-powered aircraft propulsion system. Although it does seem ambitious, given our current, quite limited, knowledge of nuclear fission and fusion, the company believes that this self-powered engine could one day be used to propel airplanes, spacecraft and even missiles. (more…)