Prototype Rocket Intended to Benefit Future Weapon System
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The Chinese have commonly been known as being very innovative and up to date when it comes to developing technology. Not only are they efficient when it comes to producing products, but they also typically set new trends. Just recently, China designed a hypersonic rocket called the Jia Geng No. 1 rocket.
It is believed that this model has been created for hypersonic research and is only just a prototype of its kind. The recent images portray the rocket to be 8.7 meters long by 2.5 meters wide. These measurements include the vehicle’s fins as well. The rocket weighs in at 3700 kilograms.
The rocket has been constructed with an exhaust port in the back and an air intake in the front. It has the look of a ramjet, which assembles thrust by eating up air at subsonic speeds, mixing oxygen with burning fuel. The hot gasses are finally pushed out of the exhaust port, creating a whole lot of momentum for the rocket. This sets the vehicles up for a very fast engine, shooting them into Mach 3+ realm. It is actually quite similar to the process of nuclear fusion.
However, there happens to be an issue with this; there is a natural limit to ramjet propulsion. Shockwaves produced at the air inlet increase the faster the ramjet vehicle goes, to the point where beyond Mach 5 the ramjet no longer produces net thrust, according to popularmechanics.com. Luckily, this problem can be solved by scramjets. Scramjets consume air at supersonic speeds, increasing Mach numbers substantially.
The Jia Geng No. 1 rocket is strictly regarded as a research project designed to study the shockwave issue and assist the development of an operational weapon system. Scramjets and ramjets both mainly rely on oxygen for them to properly function, which leads to them having a maximum altitude of just 81,000 feet.
It has been reported that the rocket was successfully launched at the Korla Missile Test Complex in Xinjiang. Since the rocket was launched in Korla, this would generally indicate military project backing.
Not only is China stressing to create hypersonic weapons, but the United States and Russia are too. This is because of how fast hypersonic weapons travel compared to traditional weapons. Speed plays a huge role in weapon success because it gives enemies much less time to respond to attacks. There is also no current air defense that has the power to react quickly enough to shoot down hypersonic weapons. If a missile is traveling at Mach 5+, it is practically impossible for an air defense system to counter it.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (stems from the U.S. military) is currently developing the Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept, or HAWC. It is expected to fly sometime this year and is also powered by a scramjet.
