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Super-fast engine set for key tests

The UK project to develop a hypersonic engine that could take a plane from London to Sydney in about four hours is set for a key demonstration.

The Sabre engine is part jet, part rocket, and relies on a novel pre-cooler heat-exchanger technology.

This pre-cooler system will begin a new phase of testing in the next month or so in Colorado, US.

Bugatti uses SLM Solutions additive manufacturing systems in component production

Sports car maker Bugatti (Molsheim, France) used SLM Solutions’ (Lübeck, Germany) metal additive manufacturing technology to produce automotive components. The components were manufactured in the aerospace alloy Ti6Al4V in cooperation with the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Additive Manufacturing Technologies (Fraunhofer IAPT; Hamburg, Germany) and Bionic Production (Lüneburg, Germany) on a SLM 500 selective laser melting system featuring four 400 W lasers.

A caliper test showed that additively produced metal components can cope with extreme strength, stiffness, and temperature requirements at speeds of over 375 km/h with a braking force of 1.35 g and brake disc temperatures up to 1100°C, says Frank Götzke, Head of New Technologies at Bugatti. The test also showed that a tensile strength of 1250 N/mm and a material density over 99.7% was achieved.

NASA Clears “Dream Chaser” Space Cargo Plane For Full-Scale Production

Watch out space, there’s a new commercial cargo carrier entering the race.

Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) has been given the go ahead from NASA to begin full-scale production of it’s “Dream Chaser” commercial space cargo plane. Scheduled to make its first mission in 2020, the company announced on December 18 that it had cleared the last milestone in its Commercial Resupply Services 2 contract. Now the company is able to move ahead with the full-scale production of the carrier which will be used to deliver cargo to the International Space Station (ISS).

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