UCF Oblique Wave Detonation Engine

There are scores of researchers working on new ways to propel aircraft to supersonic and even hypersonic speeds. A team at the University of Central Florida is among them, and they’ve recently made a breakthrough by building a hypersonic reaction chamber for jet engines. The system harnesses the power of a detonation — normally chaotic and destructive — keeping it stationary and stabilized while using the shock wave for propulsion. As a result, a full-scale version would enable air travel at speeds of Mach 6 to 17, which is more than 4,600 to 13,000 miles per hour, and could also be used in rockets for more efficient space travel.