China’s Xiamen University has tested a hypersonic plane, becoming the first such institution in the world to design and fly a Mach 5-capable aircraft.
However, researchers at Xiamen University in Fujian tested just such a craft in China’s Gobi desert Tuesday morning, according to a Tuesday statement by the university. They call it « Jiageng-1 » after Chen Jiageng, a businessman who founded Xiamen University in 1921, and they’ve been working on it since 2008. The project was partially funded by the Chinese military.
Xiamen University Aerospace Academy with Beijing Lingkong Tianxing Technology Co., Ltd. successfully launched and recovered the reusable winged suborbital JiaGeng-1 technology tester rocket. (max alt 26.2Km)ℹ：https://t.co/kxtCxLBAlapic.twitter.com/zJE3sB6QJF
The plane was powered by a winged rocket less than nine meters (29.5 feet) tall that weighed more than three tonnes, according to a statement on the university’s website. However, other details about its flight remain classified.
The name is a nod to (or a dig at?) US plane maker Boeing’s X-51 Waverider, a hypersonic passenger aircraft the company announced was in development last June, Sputnik reported. If successful, the plane would be able to make the trip from New York to London — typically a seven-hour flight — in about two hours, the company boasts.
However, unlike Boeing’s plane, the Jiageng-1 rides on two layers of « shock waves, » or extremely hot layers of gas: one is underneath the plane, and the other goes in the air-inlet duct of its ramjet engine.
