Home grown scientists unlock the secret of speed
News Item
- Date:
- 20 December, 2011
- Media Release Number:
- 134/2011
Minister for Defence Science and Personnel, Warren Snowdon, today congratulated an Australian-US research team on taking out a prestigious international award for their efforts in developing hypersonic flight technology.
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- Dr Allan Paull (left) with Minister Warren Snowdon (middle) and Acting Deputy Chief Defence Scientist Simon Oldfield (right)
Visiting a Defence Science facility in Melbourne, Mr Snowdon met Dr Allan Paull and praised him for his team’s work in developing technology that has propelled test flight aircraft well beyond the speed of sound, hitting around 8600km/h (Mach 8) – ten times the cruising speed of a 767 commercial passenger jet.
“I congratulate Dr Paull and the rest of his team on developing this major breakthrough in aeronautics – technology like this offers significant potential benefits to our defence and transportation aircraft,” Mr Snowdon said.
“The work being carried out by our scientists is some of the most advanced in the world and the awarding of the 2012 von Karman Award for International Co-operation in Aeronautics is proof of that.”
The Hypersonics International Flight Research Experimentation (HIFiRE) program has involved carrying out nine experimental flights over eight years to develop the kind of technology that would propel successful hypersonic flights at some of the fastest speeds ever recorded.
The knowledge gained from this technology will be applied to the development of future HIFiRE flight vehicles and also the testing of advanced air-breathing hypersonic propulsion engines, known as a supersonic combustion ramjets (scramjets).
The rest of the team included Mr Doug Dolvin from the United States Air Force Research Laboratory, Dr Michael Smart from the University of Queensland and Dr Kevin Bowcutt from Boeing Research &Technology (USA).
Media contacts:
Lidija Ivanovski (Snowdon) 02 6277 7820 or 0407 108 935
Defence Media Operations: 02 6127 1999
The Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) is part of Australia's Department of Defence. DSTO's role is to ensure the expert, impartial and innovative application of science and technology to the defence of Australia and its national interests.
