Go Unlimited with Magzter GOLD
Get unlimited access to 10,000+ magazines, newspapers and Premium stories for just
Try GOLD - Free
A drone with a rotating detonation rocket engine' approached the speed of sound
How It Works UK
|Issue 190
venus Aerospace has completed the inaugural test flight of a drone fitted with its rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE), accelerating it to just under the speed of sound.
The company wants to one day build superfast commercial jets using this new type of engine. In a 24 February test flight, the company flew the drone, which is 2.4 metres long and weighs 136 kilograms, to an altitude of 3,658 metres with an Aero L-29 Delfín plane before it was deployed and the RDRE was activated. The drone flew ten miles at Mach 0.9 – over 680 miles per hour – using 80 per cent of the RDRE’s available thrust. The flight proved the viability of RDRE and the associated onboard flight systems. Three weeks earlier, Venus Aerospace demonstrated the viability of its RDRE technology with a long-duration test burn, during which engineers showed their engine worked for the duration of this test flight.
This story is from the Issue 190 edition of How It Works UK.
Subscribe to Magzter GOLD to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 10,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
MORE STORIES FROM How It Works UK
How It Works UK
UNCANNY'S DANNY ROBINS
The creator and host of the BBC's Uncanny series tells us about his most chilling experiences while researching the show, and writing a ghost book for children
4 mins
Issue 208
How It Works UK
HOW FEATHERS GROW
A bird's proteinaceous plumage comes from the same source as our hair
1 mins
Issue 208
How It Works UK
New EV battery technology could power 500-mile road trips on a 12-minute charge
Scientists have used a neat chemistry trick to tackle a major challenge facing future batteries.
2 mins
Issue 208
How It Works UK
HOW AIR PURIFIERS WORK
These filtration devices clean a room's air of particles that can make a person sick
1 min
Issue 208
How It Works UK
Chinese scientists hunt for alien radio signals in a 'potentially habitable' star system
TRAPPIST-1 is a red dwarf star located about 40 light years away that hosts seven Earth-sized rocky planets, with at least three orbiting in the habitable zone where liquid water could exist.
2 mins
Issue 208
How It Works UK
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE DIE?
Our bodies are vessels for life, but in death they undergo a cascade of chemical and biological changes
3 mins
Issue 208
How It Works UK
WHY ARE KEYBOARDS QWERTY?
There's a reason why this seemingly random arrangement of letters is widely used on keyboard layouts
1 min
Issue 208
How It Works UK
A 'quasi-moon' discovered in Earth orbit may have been hiding for decades
A new paper describes a possible 'quasi-moon' of Earth, an interloping asteroid that may have been following our planet around for decades, undetected.
1 mins
Issue 208
How It Works UK
WHAT'S AN ANTI-DRONE GUN?
How these devices intercept and disable unmanned aerial vehicles
1 mins
Issue 208
How It Works UK
Dozens of mysterious blobs discovered inside Mars may be 'failed planets'
Giant impact structures, including the potential remains of ancient ‘protoplanets’, may be lurking deep beneath the surface of Mars.
2 mins
Issue 208
Listen
Translate
Change font size