ESA Unveils Ambitious Plans for Mach 5 Hydrogen-Powered Hypersonic Aircraft
The European Space Agency (ESA) has initiated an ambitious project named the Invictus Program, aimed at developing a hypersonic aircraft powered by hydrogen. This innovative aircraft is designed to achieve speeds of up to Mach 5, approximately 6,125.2 km/h, and is intended to be fully reusable.
The proposed aircraft aims to take off like a conventional airplane before transitioning to rocket-like propulsion to reach orbit around Earth. ESA announced this development alongside its collaboration with the British engineering and technology firm Frazer-Nash. The consortium will also include additional partners such as Spirit Aero Systems, a specialist in aircraft fuselage construction, and Cranfield University. The initial goal for the consortium is to produce a preliminary design for the hypersonic aircraft's systems within a year.
Funding for this endeavor is expected to be sourced from ESA's General Support Technology Program (GSTP) and the Technology Development Element (TDE), although specific financial details have not been disclosed.
One of the primary challenges identified by ESA in the development of a hypersonic aircraft is the significant heat generated during flight due to air friction and shock heating at high speeds. To address this issue, the developers plan to implement a hydrogen-powered, pre-cooled air-breathing propulsion system. This technology is crucial for enabling the aircraft to reach the targeted Mach 5 speed while also managing the thermal challenges associated with such velocities.
The pre-cooling system is based on the SABRE (Synergistic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine) study conducted by ESA, which explored the feasibility of creating pre-cooled engines for horizontally launching spacecraft. Reaction Engines, a British engine manufacturer, has successfully developed this system, which has been applied in conventional jet engines to manage extreme temperatures. This advanced technology can cool the extremely hot air entering the engines within fractions of a second.
An aircraft equipped with this innovative propulsion system could make ESA's vision of a horizontally launching space vehicle a reality. Additionally, this hypersonic aircraft is intended to serve as a research platform. Currently, China leads the field of hypersonic technology, having tested drones capable of flying at multiple times the speed of sound and making advancements in military hypersonic missiles. The development of a European hypersonic aircraft could potentially help balance the competitive landscape in this advanced technology sector.