Developed by China, this aircraft engine uses special technology to reach a speed of 20,000 km/h, or 16 times the speed of sound. Enough to connect very distant cities in just a few minutes.
In parallel with technological advances concerning electric carsresearchers are interested in future of aviation, both civil and commercial. There are several angles of attack for this. Some want the best of both worlds by offering flying taxis. Others emphasize ecology by developing a hydrogen engine. Finally, some are only looking for one thing: go as fast as possible in the sky.
To achieve this, there is no secret, you need an engine different from turbojets which currently equip the majority of airliners. One of the concepts that is most likely to see the light of day is that of rotary detonation engine (RDE, for Rotating Detonation Engine). Chinese scientists have been working on it for several years and the results published in the Journal of Propulsion Technology are very impressive on paper. They have developed a machine capable of propelling an airplane 16 times the speed of soundeither 20,000 km/h.
With its new type of engine, this plane flies at Mach 16
The device has two operating modes. As long as he is below Mach 7approximately 8650 km/hthe fuel ignites after mixing with the outside air, creating a shock wave “pushing” the plane. Beyond this speed, it generates a continuous, almost straight flow which aims for a kind of circular platform. This time, fuel that comes into contact with it explodeswhich results in a much greater thrust force, until reaching Mach 16.
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This technology, which other countries such as the United States are working on and also applicable to rockets, has the advantage of being very effective. 80% of fuel is transformed into thrust during operation, compared to 20 to 30% for conventional aircraft engines. Technically, we could for example connect Paris to New York in 20 minutes, even if in reality it would be a little more than that since you have to count the acceleration and deceleration time. It remains to be seen when we will be able to board such a plane.