Feel the need for (hyper)speed? Try DARPA's new Vulcan engine.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is developing a new engine that could take its Falcon aircraft to hypersonic speeds without the need for a boost from a rocket. Scramjets are nothing new to aviation, and have been seen by many in the aerospace world as the future's primary method of rapid transportation at the edge of space. The problem has always been getting that scramjet engine through subsonic speeds where it is ineffective. That's where the hybrid Vulcan engine comes in. The Vulcan is proposed to take the Falcon to that sweet spot as a turbojet where it can then transform to a scramjet and power it even further into Ludicrous Speed. Imagine, 9,000 miles in less than 2 hours. The best part is that the Falcon can land and takeoff from any normal runway. DARPA sees this as a cost effective way of slipping satellites into low earth orbits in the future. That future may not be far off, as we may even see the prototype by 2012.

Story via Engadget

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