28th April 2025 (15 Topics)

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Active Cooled Scramjet Subscale Combustor

Context

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) recently tested a crucial component of a hypersonic missile engine. This component is called the Active Cooled Scramjet Subscale Combustor. With this successful test, DRDO aims to move towards full-scale flight-worthy combustor testing soon.

About Active Cooled Scramjet Subscale Combustor

The combustor is a core component of the scramjet engine, where fuel is mixed with compressed air to ignite and create thrust.
The success of this test shows that India is capable of handling the extreme temperatures and pressures generated during hypersonic flight.
Active cooling involves circulating a coolant (often the same fuel used for combustion) through channels in the combustor walls to absorb heat and prevent overheating.
This keeps the engine from melting or failing under the extreme conditions of hypersonic flight.

What is a Scramjet?

A scramjet (Supersonic Combustion Ramjet) is a type of air-breathing engine designed for high-speed flight at hypersonic speeds, which are speeds greater than five times the speed of sound (Mach 5), or roughly 6,000 km/h.
Unlike traditional jet engines that compress air before combustion, scramjets rely on the high-speed airflow that enters the engine to compress the air in the combustion chamber.
This allows them to operate efficiently at speeds where other propulsion systems would fail.
The primary advantage of scramjets is that they allow vehicles to travel at extremely high speeds for long distances without carrying large amounts of oxidizer (such as liquid oxygen), which is typical in rocket-based systems.
This makes them more efficient for long-range hypersonic travel.
Challenges in Hypersonic Flight: Hypersonic speeds create extreme aerodynamic heating, with temperatures exceeding 2,000°C, which can damage engine components. This makes sustaining scramjet engines a complex task.

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Active Cooled Scramjet Subscale Combustor

About Active Cooled Scramjet Subscale Combustor

What is a Scramjet?