Another one - true and only in OZ
Found on the ABC news this am and is deserved on this thread,
Esp. the bit about the bolts.
we will look for follow up later.
Last Update: Wednesday, March 22, 2006. 7:30am (AEDT)
Scientists gear up for new scramjet tests
An international team of scientists has returned to Woomera in South Australia's north to carry out more tests on a supersonic engine.
Final preparations are underway for the test launch of the Hyshot-3 scramjet engine on Friday.
The test launch of the scramjet engine at the Woomera range is the first of two scheduled for this month.
The latest attempt is the third since 2001, and since the last attempt in 2002, scientists have improved the engine's design.
The team leader and University of Queensland professor, Allan Paull, is confident there will not be a repeat of the rocket crashing five years ago.
He says there is always an element of risk.
"If it does go wrong, we've done all the safety planning to ensure that the environment as well as the people are safe basically," he said.
"[We'll] screw all the bolts in and lock them in with a special glue, polish it up, and put the stickers on and away we go."
Scientists are attaching the engine to a rocket that will travel about eight times the speed of sound.
Professor Paull says the technology could lead to quicker and cheaper satellite launches and eventually the ability to fly from Sydney to London in two hours.
"This research goes towards the development of high-speed air-breathing engines, which can be used for high-speed transport in any form you like to name, which when we talk about high-speed, we're talking about mach 8 and above, and ultimately we hope to be able to use it to launch satellites in the low-Earth orbit," he said.