Test: Scramjet 14-X S Engine Flight
Flight Test of the Scramjet 14-X S Engine
Project 14-X’s main objective is to demonstrate in flight the operability of a waverider vehicle integrated with the scramjet engine, at a speed equivalent to 10 times the speed of sound (Mach number 10) in the sensitive atmosphere (stratosphere). Currently, the first flight test of the 14-X’s propulsion system (scramjet engine) is planned for the year 2020, with the aim of validating the computational simulations and laboratory data relating to the engine’s operating principle (supersonic combustion ), in addition to operationalizing critical subsystems of the scramjet engine.
To this end, IEAv has a partnership with the company Orbital Engenharia to prepare the executive project for integrating the 14-X S scramjet engine into the hypersonic accelerator vehicle (IAE sounding rocket).
The delivery of the contracted services is taking place through 4 (four) phases, of which: 1) Delivery of the mission definition documentation; 2) Delivery of integrated system configuration documentation; 3) Delivery of preliminary project documentation; and finally 4) Delivery of detailed project documentation.
At the beginning of July, the contracted company successfully delivered, and on time, the aforementioned phase 2, which refers to the assembly, transportation, preparation and integration of the 14-X S demonstrator for launch, as well as the specifications of remote measurement equipment and remote controls, among other configurations.
For the Director of the Institute, Col. Av Lester de Abreu Faria, “little by little the difficulties are being overcome and mastery of technology is achieved. Phase 2 of the contract is an important milestone of the project, as we begin to verify and understand the vehicle as an integrated whole and get closer to the current great challenge of seeing the prototype fly and confirming all our studies so far, in pursuit of mastery of hypersonic technology.”
