Quote from: Vahe231991 on 08/11/2023 03:25 pmThe post written by me in question isn't a product of artificial intelligence. I never wrote "blah blah blah" because I am both an English speaker and multilingual speaker. I was just commenting on the latest news on development of the Darkhorse because Hermeus Aerospace had to make a decision on what turbofan should be used for the gas turbine part of the Chimera II TBCC engine for the Darkhorse engine because it knows that the J85 turbojet that is part of the Quaterhorse's powerplant is technologically obsolete compared to the F100.What you wrote here and other places is equivalent to "blah blah blah" because it doesn't add anything of substance to the discussion. It is just filler.I mean did the "decision really demonstrate flexibility"? And if so, why is it necessary to point out here?
The post written by me in question isn't a product of artificial intelligence. I never wrote "blah blah blah" because I am both an English speaker and multilingual speaker. I was just commenting on the latest news on development of the Darkhorse because Hermeus Aerospace had to make a decision on what turbofan should be used for the gas turbine part of the Chimera II TBCC engine for the Darkhorse engine because it knows that the J85 turbojet that is part of the Quaterhorse's powerplant is technologically obsolete compared to the F100.
Quote from: Jim on 08/11/2023 05:54 pmQuote from: Vahe231991 on 08/11/2023 03:25 pmThe post written by me in question isn't a product of artificial intelligence. I never wrote "blah blah blah" because I am both an English speaker and multilingual speaker. I was just commenting on the latest news on development of the Darkhorse because Hermeus Aerospace had to make a decision on what turbofan should be used for the gas turbine part of the Chimera II TBCC engine for the Darkhorse engine because it knows that the J85 turbojet that is part of the Quaterhorse's powerplant is technologically obsolete compared to the F100.What you wrote here and other places is equivalent to "blah blah blah" because it doesn't add anything of substance to the discussion. It is just filler.I mean did the "decision really demonstrate flexibility"? And if so, why is it necessary to point out here?I'm emphasizing that Hermeus Aerospace had to make a decision of which jet engine should be used as the gas turbine portion of the Chimera engine, and that because the Chimera II is a bigger engine, it required a larger engine for its gas turbine component. Hermeus Aerospace opted for existing jet engines to serve as the gas turbine components for the Chimera and Chimera II TBCC engines in order to save billions of dollars in research and development costs and years of schedule, and since the Darkhorse design is slightly bigger and faster than the Quarterhorse, I'd imagine that Hermeus Aerospace was looking for an existing jet engine to act as the gas turbine component of the Chimera II that would have a powerful-enough thrust-to-weight ratio to propel the Darkhorse to its planned Mach 5 speed. If the Halcyon is ever built following flight testing of the Darkhorse, Hermeus Aerospace could optimize the Halcyon's TBCC engine to use as the gas turbine component either the F100 or F110.
Quote from: JAFO on 08/10/2023 06:17 pmQuote from: 12345 on 08/10/2023 09:21 amQuote from: Vahe231991 on 07/14/2023 01:27 amblah blah blah....Someone please stop this AI crapAgreed. There have been numerous comments like yours about this poster. I go back and forth if it's AI, a non-English speaker with a bad translator Bablesfish, a young person trying to sound intelligent and/or important and getting their rocks off seeing their posts here and interactions with others, or an elder with time on their hands scouring NSF for old threads to revive as a hobby (and to annoy Jim). I've got them on IGNORE, but will look at their posts once in a while just to see what kind of drivel they posted that day. Once in a while they randomly make a decent post, but otherwise they're just an annoying mosquito. I've seen worse, but NSF could lose them without pain.The post written by me in question isn't a product of artificial intelligence. I never wrote "blah blah blah" because I am both an English speaker and multilingual speaker. I was just commenting on the latest news on development of the Darkhorse because Hermeus Aerospace had to make a decision on what turbofan should be used for the gas turbine part of the Chimera II TBCC engine for the Darkhorse engine because it knows that the J85 turbojet that is part of the Quaterhorse's powerplant is technologically obsolete compared to the F100.
Quote from: 12345 on 08/10/2023 09:21 amQuote from: Vahe231991 on 07/14/2023 01:27 amblah blah blah....Someone please stop this AI crapAgreed. There have been numerous comments like yours about this poster. I go back and forth if it's AI, a non-English speaker with a bad translator Bablesfish, a young person trying to sound intelligent and/or important and getting their rocks off seeing their posts here and interactions with others, or an elder with time on their hands scouring NSF for old threads to revive as a hobby (and to annoy Jim). I've got them on IGNORE, but will look at their posts once in a while just to see what kind of drivel they posted that day. Once in a while they randomly make a decent post, but otherwise they're just an annoying mosquito. I've seen worse, but NSF could lose them without pain.
Quote from: Vahe231991 on 07/14/2023 01:27 amblah blah blah....Someone please stop this AI crap
blah blah blah....
Quote from: Vahe231991 on 08/11/2023 07:50 pmQuote from: Jim on 08/11/2023 05:54 pmQuote from: Vahe231991 on 08/11/2023 03:25 pmThe post written by me in question isn't a product of artificial intelligence. I never wrote "blah blah blah" because I am both an English speaker and multilingual speaker. I was just commenting on the latest news on development of the Darkhorse because Hermeus Aerospace had to make a decision on what turbofan should be used for the gas turbine part of the Chimera II TBCC engine for the Darkhorse engine because it knows that the J85 turbojet that is part of the Quaterhorse's powerplant is technologically obsolete compared to the F100.What you wrote here and other places is equivalent to "blah blah blah" because it doesn't add anything of substance to the discussion. It is just filler.I mean did the "decision really demonstrate flexibility"? And if so, why is it necessary to point out here?I'm emphasizing that Hermeus Aerospace had to make a decision of which jet engine should be used as the gas turbine portion of the Chimera engine, and that because the Chimera II is a bigger engine, it required a larger engine for its gas turbine component. Hermeus Aerospace opted for existing jet engines to serve as the gas turbine components for the Chimera and Chimera II TBCC engines in order to save billions of dollars in research and development costs and years of schedule, and since the Darkhorse design is slightly bigger and faster than the Quarterhorse, I'd imagine that Hermeus Aerospace was looking for an existing jet engine to act as the gas turbine component of the Chimera II that would have a powerful-enough thrust-to-weight ratio to propel the Darkhorse to its planned Mach 5 speed. If the Halcyon is ever built following flight testing of the Darkhorse, Hermeus Aerospace could optimize the Halcyon's TBCC engine to use as the gas turbine component either the F100 or F110.Again, so what? Did the decision really demonstrate flexibility? Both the F-100 and F-110 are multiple decades old engines. The F-100 was contracted for USN and USAF usage in the F-14/15, both of which entered service in the 1970's.
Quote from: Hog on 08/16/2023 02:24 pmQuote from: Vahe231991 on 08/11/2023 07:50 pmQuote from: Jim on 08/11/2023 05:54 pmQuote from: Vahe231991 on 08/11/2023 03:25 pmThe post written by me in question isn't a product of artificial intelligence. I never wrote "blah blah blah" because I am both an English speaker and multilingual speaker. I was just commenting on the latest news on development of the Darkhorse because Hermeus Aerospace had to make a decision on what turbofan should be used for the gas turbine part of the Chimera II TBCC engine for the Darkhorse engine because it knows that the J85 turbojet that is part of the Quaterhorse's powerplant is technologically obsolete compared to the F100.What you wrote here and other places is equivalent to "blah blah blah" because it doesn't add anything of substance to the discussion. It is just filler.I mean did the "decision really demonstrate flexibility"? And if so, why is it necessary to point out here?I'm emphasizing that Hermeus Aerospace had to make a decision of which jet engine should be used as the gas turbine portion of the Chimera engine, and that because the Chimera II is a bigger engine, it required a larger engine for its gas turbine component. Hermeus Aerospace opted for existing jet engines to serve as the gas turbine components for the Chimera and Chimera II TBCC engines in order to save billions of dollars in research and development costs and years of schedule, and since the Darkhorse design is slightly bigger and faster than the Quarterhorse, I'd imagine that Hermeus Aerospace was looking for an existing jet engine to act as the gas turbine component of the Chimera II that would have a powerful-enough thrust-to-weight ratio to propel the Darkhorse to its planned Mach 5 speed. If the Halcyon is ever built following flight testing of the Darkhorse, Hermeus Aerospace could optimize the Halcyon's TBCC engine to use as the gas turbine component either the F100 or F110.Again, so what? Did the decision really demonstrate flexibility? Both the F-100 and F-110 are multiple decades old engines. The F-100 was contracted for USN and USAF usage in the F-14/15, both of which entered service in the 1970's.This decision in some ways demonstrated flexibility because Hermeus Aerospace had to decide whether to use the F100, F110, F119, or a brand new turbofan for the gas turbine portion of the Chimera II TBCC powerplant to be used for the Darkhorse and Halcyon, even though the F100, F110, and F119 have greater power-to-weight ratios that the J85 that is part of the Quarterhorse's Chimera engine. What was the rationale by Hermeus Aerospace for picking the F100 rather than the F110 as the gas turbine component of the Chimera II engine?
If Hermeus use MIPCC, then they throw oxidizer in front of the turbofan compressors to keep them cool and boost performance. Turbofan thinks it flies at Mach 2 when real velocity is Mach 4+ REL precooler use a helium loop, cooled by LH2.
Given that REL determined near-liquid air was good enough for their purposes, I wonder if that opens the opportunity for using a different cryogen for the heat exchanger, assuming Hermeus is not dumping either water or LOx directly into the stream...
Hermeus has selected Cecil Airport in Jacksonville, Florida for its hypersonic engine test facility. Named HEAT (High Enthalpy Air-Breathing Test Facility), this facility will be Hermeus’ largest and most technologically advanced test site to date and become a national asset for hypersonic testing. The site will also be the initial base for Hermeus’ high-Mach flight test capabilities starting in 2026, expanding cadence and affordability of the nation’s flight test infrastructure.We announced our plans for the new facility at a groundbreaking ceremony at Cecil Airport in Jacksonville. Hermeus executives and employees were joined by U.S. Congressman Aaron Bean (FL- 04), U.S. Congressman John Rutherford (FL-05), State Sen. Clay Yarborough (R-Jacksonville), Mayor Donna Deegan, Florida Department of Commerce officials, JAXUSA officials, and other community leaders. The HEAT facility will provide continuous high flow rate, high enthalpy and low-pressure conditions required for high-supersonic and low-hypersonic flight modeling. This capability will make the facility an important asset to more effectively test and field various hypersonic technologies – not only for Hermeus but also for the Department of Defense and its commercial partners. Hermeus will test a variety of engines and propulsion subsystems at HEAT – from the Pratt & Whitney F100 engine to Hermeus’ proprietary hypersonic Chimera engine. The facility will be built in phases with initial sea-level static engine tests starting before the end of 2024. Future phases of the facility will introduce continuous high-Mach vitiated air flow to simulate more flight-like high-Mach testing conditions on the ground.
In our State of the Company address, we reflect on milestones from the past year and look ahead to what’s next. In 2024, we built our first aircraft and completed its ground test campaign. We opened a new test facility – set to become a national asset for high-Mach and hypersonic propulsion testing, and quickly brought it online with F100 engine tests. We expanded our Los Angeles footprint, grew the team across both coasts, and increased revenue 5x year over year.Now, 2025 is the year to fly fast. Quarterhorse Mk 1's first flight is imminent, and Mk 2 is on track to become the world’s first supersonic uncrewed aircraft later this year.
Hermeus, a leading aerospace and defense technology company specializing in high-speed aircraft, today announced the completion of the ground portion of the flight test campaign for Quarterhorse Mk 1. This milestone marks the successful integrated testing of all vehicle subsystems as well as the software and hardware in Hermeus’ custom Flight Deck from which Quarterhorse will be remotely piloted. This comprehensive ground test campaign at Edwards Air Force Base was completed in just 21 days.
Ground testing culminated in 130-knot (150 mph) taxi tests with full afterburner on Edwards' iconic dry lakebed, offering a valuable opportunity to validate aerodynamic model assumptions, assess the aircraft's directional control, and evaluate the performance of control surfaces, among other things.
With ground testing complete, Hermeus is finalizing the administrative efforts to obtain flight approval from the U.S. Air Force 412th Test Wing and the FAA. The first flight of Quarterhorse will mark a pivotal milestone for Hermeus and offer insights to inform the development of future aircraft. Quarterhorse Mk 1 was purpose-built for a single mission: takeoff and landing. Its high-speed aerodynamic design introduces unique challenges, including a low aspect ratio wing, high wing loading, and a low thrust-to-weight ratio. The data collected from this initial flight, simply by achieving liftoff and sustaining flight, will provide critical learnings.
Hermeus, a leading aerospace and defense technology company specializing in high-speed aircraft, has officially brought its new High Enthalpy Air-Breathing Test Facility (HEAT) online with a series of successful tests of the Pratt & Whitney F100 engine. HEAT will serve as an asset for military and commercial engine testing, boosting the efficiency and affordability of supersonic and hypersonic test infrastructure. “In just three months since breaking ground, HEAT has come online and is positioned to unlock low-cost, high-capability propulsion testing which will support the delivery of hypersonic aircraft before the end of the decade,” said Hermeus Co-Founder and CEO, AJ Piplica. “Current hypersonic test facilities are booked a year or more in advance and are prohibitively expensive. HEAT will alleviate capacity limitations, offer more affordable options, and establish itself as a critical national resource for hypersonic testing.”The HEAT facility is being developed incrementally, with future phases introducing continuous high-Mach vitiated airflow to enable more flight-like hypersonic testing conditions on the ground.
The team is conducting high-speed wind tunnel tests, pushing our Quarterhorse Mk 2 model from Mach 0.6 to Mach 3 — the core of our flight envelope. Testing under these supersonic conditions is validating our analytical predictions and assembling the critical dataset necessary to advance the Quarterhorse Mk 2 build.
From clean sheet to completed build in 204 days.
Airborne! Last week, Quarterhorse Mk 1 took off from Edwards AFB, achieved stable flight and landed smoothly. Mk 1's flight validated our rapid, iterative approach to airplane development and advanced our mission to radically accelerate aviation.
Hermeus, a venture capital-backed aerospace and defense technology company specializing in high-speed aircraft, announced today the flight of its Quarterhorse Mk 1 aircraft. This milestone is a significant step in Hermeus’ development of high-Mach and hypersonic aircraft. With this flight, Hermeus demonstrated a rapid development pace, advancing Hermeus’ mission to operationalize hypersonic technologies.
Quarterhorse Mk 1 is the first in a series of uncrewed aircraft on Hermeus’ iterative development roadmap. The company’s approach emphasizes “hardware richness” – building multiple prototypes in quick succession, allowing the team to take well-managed technical risk. While driving technical progress towards high-speed flight, this approach simultaneously enables Hermeus to rapidly develop its team and talent. The “one aircraft per year” development cadence drives Hermeus’ engineers and technicians through multiple crucibles of full life-cycle aircraft development in a very short time period. As a result, the company is progressively building a team capable of solving the hardest engineering challenges of aviation to operationalize hypersonic aircraft.The team is actively reviewing data and integrating lessons learned into Hermeus’ next iteration, Quarterhorse Mk 2, currently being manufactured at Hermeus’ headquarters in Atlanta. The scale of an F-16, Quarterhorse Mk 2 is a high-Mach aircraft designed to de-risk uncrewed supersonic flight. It is on-track to fly late this year. This vehicle will enable both high-cadence hypersonic flight test and novel operational defense capabilities.
You're looking at the "Iron Bird," Hermeus' facility housing the insides of Quarterhorse Mk 2, including the inflight power generators, control surfaces, and landing gear. This set up enables us to rapidly test and iterate on all subsystems in parallel — outside the vehicle — before they're integrated into the final frames.Watch the full Forbes feature on Hermeus' Youtube.
Hermeus is building fast airplanes - fast. Less than four months after Quarterhorse Mk 1's first flight, Mk 2 is weight on wheels - the first time the aircraft bears its own weight. Turns out an F-16 class drone is quite large. This is what iterative development looks like. Next up: F-100 engine integration.
Less than a week after Quarterhorse Mk 2 achieved weight on wheels we completed integration of the iconic Pratt & Whitney F100 engine. This is what it means to build fast. Next Up: Integrated systems testing.
After being shipped from Atlanta, Quarterhorse Mk 2.1 has arrived at Spaceport America — our new home for the next chapter. The journey to first flight starts now.What comes next:✅ Reintegration of tail and wings✅ Ground operations and systems checkouts✅ Engine ground runs✅ Progressive taxi testing✅ Preparation for first flightAll in service of delivering flight-ready capability for national security.
We're not just building the planes fast, we're building the infrastructure fast.Our team has stood up deployed operations at @Spaceport_NM, transforming a blank slate into a disciplined flight-test complex, including a 6,000-square-foot custom hangar for Quarterhorse Mk 2.1 that was built in less than a week.
QuoteAfter being shipped from Atlanta, Quarterhorse Mk 2.1 has arrived at Spaceport America — our new home for the next chapter. The journey to first flight starts now.What comes next:✅ Reintegration of tail and wings✅ Ground operations and systems checkouts✅ Engine ground runs✅ Progressive taxi testing✅ Preparation for first flightAll in service of delivering flight-ready capability for national security.https://twitter.com/hermeuscorp/status/2014369012247904637QuoteWe're not just building the planes fast, we're building the infrastructure fast.Our team has stood up deployed operations at @Spaceport_NM, transforming a blank slate into a disciplined flight-test complex, including a 6,000-square-foot custom hangar for Quarterhorse Mk 2.1 that was built in less than a week.
Is the tech good enough to enable sustained M5+ flight at viable altitudes with conventional HC fuels? IDK.
Personally, I think not. According to Wikipedia, JP-7 was not a conventional distillate fuel, but was created from special blending stocks in order to have a very low concentration of highly volatile components like benzene or toluene and almost no sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen impurities. Blending a fuel like that costs extraordinary $$$.. large enough for the US military to consider it perhaps (they ain't paying the bill!) but well outside the budget of a small country even, leave alone these guys.No, they'll need to look for something else to run their thrust generators on - most likely something both cryogenic (for cooling) and with at least some hydrogen in it, for the ramjet.
[/b]Alternatively they could leverage an old USN project to line the pre-cooler pipes with a catalytic coating to crack the fuel and deliver a fraction of it as hydrogen to the ramjet. That could potentially absorb a lot of energy from the airflow.
With the ready availability of heat, thermal ammonia cracking seems like an ideal option: denser than Hydrogen (and easier to handle) for storage, but burns about as well and acts as a better heatsink then hydrocarbon propellants.
As a practical energy carrier ammonia wins hands down. It's much easier to store decent density at either reasonable temperature or pressure and as a shallow cryogen.
Option 2 is to pre-cool both the tankage and the fuel, so that regardless of how hot the launch site is it's close to its freezing point. With a ready supply of LN2 (suitably warmed) cooling such a structure would not be that difficult. Downside is the increased pumping power needed to move it. IDK how viscous jet fuel gets when it's within a few degrees of freezing. Presumably a lot of aircraft that cruise at <M1 have their tank temperatures fall quite a lot so there is lots of experience dealing with this. ....
