Japan completes hypersonic engine test successfully

According to report The first flight test of an indigenous scramjet engine was successfully completed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), achieving hypersonic speeds while landing. An S-520-RD1 rocket was used for the engine testing. The one-stage sounding rocket is approximately 9.15 metres long and weighs roughly 2.6 tonnes in total. It was launched on July 24, 2022, from the southern Kyushu region of Japan’s Uchinoura Space Center.

During hypersonic flight, a scramjet engine extracts the oxygen required for burning from the atmosphere. Because a scramjet does not require liquid oxygen, it can be utilised for hypersonic aircraft as well as spaceplanes that travel between Earth and space. A 9.15-meter-long piece of testing equipment attached to the S-520-RD1 was released after the launch at 5 a.m. on Sunday, reaching an altitude of 150 kilometers.

When the device’s speed reached Mach 5.5 during its descent, a combustion test was carried out for roughly six seconds at a height of around 30 kilometers. In charge JAXA official Koichiro Tani said at a news conference, “We achieved a certain level of success. We aim to build an actual engine and do a flight test as the following phase, he added. The collected data will be put to use in ground-based wind tunnel studies. Many nations are competing to create scramjet engines, which are anticipated to aid in the creation of longer-range missiles.

The most recent test is a component of research authorized by the Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency under a national security technology research promotion programme associated with the Defense Ministry. About 1.8 billion was given to JAXA by ATLA to meet the expenses.