The British designed and built Bloodhound SSC 1000mph (1,609kph) jet and rocket-powered car recently made its debut as a full scale mock-up at the Farnborough Air Show. The Bloodhound SSC (SuperSonic Car) vehicle (named after a surface to air missile from the fifties and sixties rather than the well-known dog with a great sense of smell), is powered by a Falcon rocket and a Eurofighter-Typhoon jet engine.
The jet engine gives 9 tonnes of thrust, and the rocket 12 tonnes of boost, for a total of 21 tonnes (135,000hp) of thrust to propel the 6 tonne vehicle (the model weighs in at just under a tonne). The jet engine uses 200-250kgs of jet fuel, and the rocket burns 230kgs of High Test Peroxide and 180kgs of HTPB rubber, producing steam and 400kgs of CO2 for a full power run. The 0-1000mph (0-1,609kph) time is estimated to be 45 seconds, which will give new meaning to what you can do with a minute of your time.
The Bloodhound SSC also has a third engine, an 800hp V12 used to drive it around the test area and to start the jet engine. Its wheels will rotate at 10,000 rpm, and subjected to 50,000g, which will give incredibly high stress levels.
The project team is also keenly aware of the environmental impact, and have a section of their website dedicated to explaining the environmental impact of the Bloodhound SSC. Actually driving the vehicle is estimated to produce 53 tonnes of CO2, or equivalent to driving around 193,000 miles (310,000km) in an average European sized car. This does not include the design, manufacture and team transportation to the test and record attempts, but most of the work is done electronically and they have a small project team.
The Bloodhound SSC is 42ft long (12.8m) and took over three years to design, with construction due to start in 2011 by Hampson Industries, and actual testing in 2012. The world land speed record attempt will take place on a dried up lake bed known as Hakskeen Pan, in the Northern Cape of South Africa, sometime later.
The Bloodhound is designed to beat the existing world record holder Thrust SuperSonic Car (763mph, 1,228kph), also British and designed by some of the same team building Bloodhound, including Wing Cdr Andy Green (driver), Richard Noble (project director) and Ron Ayres (aerodynamicist). Much of the aerodynamic computational fluid dynamic modelling has been done by Swansea University in Wales.
For a small donation (minimum £10/$15.18/€11.80), or free if you are a school or contributing business, you can get your name on the vehicle’s fin. Maybe ask that your donation go toward paying for carbon emission offsets.
Visit: http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/
Via: Daily Telegraph
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