A rocket designed to fly at more than seven times the speed of sound is to be test-launched at Woomera in the South Australian outback on Tuesday, the project backers said on Monday.
The Queensland University team which designed it is confident the trial will bring success despite the failure of an earlier launch last year.
The university’s Centre for Hypersonics will launch two Terrier Orion Mk-70 rockets fitted with a hypersonic, air-breathing engine known as a scramjet at Woomera, north of Adelaide.
If perfected, the supersonic engines raise the possibility of flights between Sydney and London in two hours.
More likely, they will revolutionise the launch of small space payloads such as communication satellites by substantially reducing costs, the team says.
The plan is for the scramjet to be propelled to a speed of mach (speed of sound) 7,6 by the orion rockets and then deployed.
The scramjet test itself will last about 10 minutes with an impact site 371 kilometres down range.
The first launch failed last October when anomalies with the rocket prevented deployment of the scramjet.
Project leader Allan Paul said preparations for the launch were on track and the team was looking forward to a successful day. – Sapa-AFP