Riscram™ Rocked Ignited Supersonic Combustor Ramjet. Propulsion system for hypersonic aircraft with supersonic combustor. Mach 0 to 30 - Earth Sea Level to Space Exosphere.

What: this invention relates to a propulsion system for hypersonic aircraft configured to operate from a fixed point to hypersonic steady state speed and from an altitude at sea level to an altitude which comprises the terrestrial exosphere. More specifically, this invention relates to a propulsion system for hypersonic aircraft having a supersonic combustor which is ignited by a rocket, in other words, a propulsion system for hypersonic aircraft having a supersonic RAM combustor which is ignited by a rocket.

How: described is a propulsion system for hypersonic aircraft, having an air inlet of a fluid, a containment duct and an exhaust nozzle. The propulsion system comprises a bypass duct for a flow of fluid , an air-breathing engine and a rocket configured for processing respective flows of fluid The bypass duct the air-breathing engine and the rocket are operatively associated with each other in such a way as to generate a thermodynamic-fluid interaction in a same portion of space between the respective flows processed in an operating configuration of the propulsion system and wherein the portion of space (33) is inside the containment duct. The propulsion system according to this invention is suitable for fitting to aircraft configured to reach hypersonic steady state flight, in particular the propulsion system, according to this invention, can be used on board aircraft used in the aerospace sector for hypersonic flight.

Why: cheap access to space. Safe, economical and environmentally responsible access to space is one of the major technological challenges of the 21st Century for all nations due to the dependence of the global economy on assured and secure access to space-based services. The most promising way to meet this challenge is to extend aeronautical technology to hypersonic vehicles powered, at least partially, by supersonic combustion airbreathing engines (scramjets). Present-day launch costs are very high – $10,000 to $25,000 per kilogram from Earth to low Earth orbit (LEO). As a result, launch costs are a large percentage of the cost of all space endeavors. If launch costs can be made cheaper the total cost of space missions will be reduced. With RISCRAMJET engine we can reduce more 10 times costs of access to space.
PCT internationa nº PCT/IT2015/000096 - http://www.riscram.us