El desarrollo de sistemas de propulsión Hipersónicos (Que permitan a las plataformas alcanzar velocidades superiores a MACH 5), continúa avanzando aceleradamente. Más allá de los programas específicos de Misiles Hipersónicos, el empleo de estas tecnologías en Aeronaves, tanto tripuladas como autónomas, es un objetivo deseado. La compañía estadounidense HERMEUS, ha presentado su prototipo de aeronave, el «Quarterhorse», en el marco de un programa que implica la entrega de 3 aeronaves en los próximos 3 años, a su principal cliente la US Air Force.
We brought together a diverse group of investors, industry leaders, military and government officials, researchers, and local civic associations – all the stakeholders who can make hypersonic flight a reality.
This included some special guest speakers, legendary entrepreneur and investor Vinod Khosla and Brigadier General Jason Lindsey.
“Less than three years ago, this felt almost impossible. And it’s gone from almost impossible, to possible, to probable today, and hopefully soon, real flight,” said Khosla.
A major emphasis of the night was to highlight progress being made on hardware development and integration.
To the surprise of the crowd, we didn’t just unveil an aircraft prototype, but delivered an experience atypical of aerospace unveils by firing the aircraft’s engine at maximum afterburner throttle.
“When an aerospace company typically unveils a new aircraft it’s nothing more than Styrofoam and fiberglass,” said Skyler Shuford, Hermeus COO. “But at Hermeus, we drive to integrated products. And we really, really like to make fire.”
While this Quarterhorse prototype was not designed to fly, it is much more than just a showpiece. Building this vehicle was an exercise in multidisciplinary design, manufacturing, and the integration of complete systems.
“We designed, manufactured, and integrated the aircraft, from nothing but an outer shape, in four months,” said Shuford.
And how about some more photos?
As always, our photos are available for download on our flickr page.
Hermeus is a venture-backed startup with the long-term vision of transforming the global human transportation network with Mach 5 aircraft. At Mach 5, travel is not just supersonic, it’s hypersonic. At these speeds – over 3,000 miles per hour – flight times from New York to London will be 90 minutes rather than seven hours. Mach 5 aircraft have the potential to create an additional four trillion dollars of global economic growth per year, unlocking significant resources that can be utilized to solve the world’s great problems.
Fuente: https://www.hermeus.com
