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Hypersonics jets into 2005The world’s fastest airbreathingengine will flyin Australia next yearthrough a collaborationbetween UQ and USdefence organisations.Scramjet engines that could makepossible two-hour flights fromSydney to London have been givena major boost through a new bilateralagreement.Australian and US defence interestshave signed a $4.6 million deal toconduct a scramjet experiment at Mach10, or about 11,000km an hour, atWoomera, South Australia, possibly inthe second half of 2005.Scramjets are air-breathingsupersonic combustion ramjet enginesthat have the potential to revolutionisethe launch of small space payloads,such as communications satellites, bysubstantially lowering costs.Project partners are the USDefence Advanced Research ProjectsAgency (DARPA) and the AustralianHypersonics Initiative (AHI).The AHI is represented by UQ;the Defence Science and TechnologyOrganisation (DSTO); the Universityof New South Wales at the AustralianDefence Force Academy; theAustralian National University; andthe governments of South Australiaand Queensland.Professor Allan Paull, of UQ’sCentre for Hypersonics, is thetechnical leader for the AustralianHypersonics Initiative.He said Australia had establishedan international standing inhypersonics research.“Australia’s reputation has beenbuilt up over three decades of scramjetresearch,” Professor Paull said.Dr Warren Harch, Chief ofDSTO’s Weapons Systems Division,said future defence applications forhypersonic vehicles included longrangereconnaissance of potentiallyglobal proportions.Civilian applications includedlow-cost satellite launching andhigh-speed aircraft.Staged Terrier Orion rocket and UQpayload on the launchpad at Woomera“Hypersonic propulsion usingsupersonic combustion ramjet(scramjet) technology offers thepossibility of high speeds and fuelefficiencies that many believe willput numerous defence and civilianaerospace applications within ourreach during the next couple ofdecades,” Dr Harch said.UQ’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor(Research) Professor David Siddle,said UQ had been at the forefront ofscramjet technology development.“UQ reported for the first time inthe open literature the developmentof a scramjet that achieved morethrust than drag in ground-testing in1993,” he said.“UQ also led the internationalHyShot program which demonstratedthe world’s first supersoniccombustion in an atmospheric flighttest at Woomera on July 30, 2002, atspeeds of more than Mach 8, or eighttimes the speed of sound.”Professor Siddle said the newcollaboration provided wonderfulopportunities for scientific andengineering advances.“The HyShot program wassuccessful because it adopted newapproaches to scramjet flighttesting,”he said.“In particular, HyShot used aflight-path to undertake theexperiment, with a two-stage rocketbooster taking the scramjet payloadto an altitude of 315km.”Next year’s experiment will besimilar to HyShot and UQ will againlead the flight program, supportedby the AHI’s Canberra node.Professor MeekA retired civil engineer from UQhas helped NASA break theworld speed record for anatmospheric engine.On March 28, the spaceagency’s X-43A experimentalaircraft flew at 7700kmh – seventimes the speed of sound.Emeritus Professor JohnMeek helped verify the aircraftwas strong enough to withstandthe in-flight vibrations.The 3.7-metre-long planeblasted over the US for 11seconds before plunging intothe Pacific Ocean.The hypersonic plane is across between a jet and rocketusing scramjet technology.NASA believes the technologyis capable of speeds ofMach 10, which will power thenext generation of spaceshuttles.Professor Meek hasworked closely with Dr KajalGupta from NASA’s DrydenFlight Research Centre, whosecomputer software was used toapprove the X-43A test flights.Both men analysed thestrength of the aircraft as awhole in its flight environment.Author torally 1960sgraduatesDr Turner HospitalAcclaimed writer and UQ graduateJanette Turner Hospital hasbeen chosen as the face of thisyear’s University of QueenslandChancellor’s Fund Appeal.Dr Turner Hospital, who isDistinguished Professor of English atthe University of South Carolina(USC), teaches a free undergraduatecourse in contemporary literature sopopular that it attracts registrationsfrom 600 members of the public.When USC ran out of sufficientfunds to offer the course, such was theenthusiasm of the students they bandedtogether and raised US$20,000 in justa few weeks to keep it going.Dr Turner Hospital said she hopedto tap into a similar spirit of giving toraise funds for UQ programs andinfrastructure.With the 2004 appeal focused onfellow graduates of the 1960s, she saidshe was convinced of the need fordynamic cross-fertilisation of ideasand interactions between communityand University, “town” and “gown”.“An important way of achievingthis end is through donations toappeals such as this,” she said.Dr Turner Hospital urged allgraduates, especially those from the1960s, to give generously to this year’sAppeal.She said if graduates gave aminimum of $60 each, the target of$600,000 would be readily achieved.“I look back with fond memoriesof my own time at University – theactivities I was involved in, the friendsI made and the intellectual stimulationof those heady days,” she said.“But things have changed dramaticallysince the 1960s. Universitiesaround the world have had to relyincreasingly on donations in order toprovide not just the educational extras,but in some cases, the basics.”UQ Deputy Vice-Chancellor(International and Development),Professor Trevor Grigg, said he hoped1960s graduates would dig deep fortoday’s pressured university sector.“The 1960s was a time whenuniversity students everywhereheightened their senses of socialresponsibility, optimism and globalunderstanding,” Professor Grigg said.“Today, it’s a very differentenvironment students find themselvesin. A decade of government fundingcutbacks and ‘making do’ is taking itstoll and the gains of the past mayevaporate if sufficient funds are notfound.”Information: Margaret Burke(telephone 07 3346 3902, emailmargaret.burke@uq.edu.au)4 UQ NEWS, june 2004