The black plane can be a space

1992/05/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Astronautika

It is intended to use as space the undetectable aircraft SR-71, used to date in space, or the so-called "black plane". You want to leave Mach in an orbit with respect to Earth at more than 15 speeds.

To do this, platform engineers are studying whether hydrogen can be burned at a high speed. This type of combustion is called "external combustion" and is intended to be used to reduce aerodynamic braking.

It must be remembered that this plane has been used as espionage against the former Soviet Union and Cuba at a speed of Mach 3, three times that of sound.

The plane SR-71, on its fuselage, is formed by turrets 2 meters high. From these towers comes the hydrogen that burns in the air, and sensors located at the rear of the plane measure the pressure and temperature of the air.

If hydrogen burns in the air around Mach 3 speeds, the gases from this combustion push the plane. However, at this speed there is another problem, that is, it can reach a temperature higher than 345ºC and the parts of the plane SR-71 are not prepared to withstand this level of heat. Therefore, to be able to experiment it is necessary to use special and expensive materials.