Destinus hypersonic plane

[Zoo Tycoon]

I just don’t get this;-

This is a hypersonic hydro-lox powered endo-atmospheric transport which has just funded at stage A to 29 million $.

Destinus plans to fly a hydrogen-powered, hypersonic cargo craft with $29M seed round | TechCrunch

A new venture from space infrastructure company Momentus founder and former CEO Mikhail Kokorich aims to build a hypersonic aircraft for autonomous cargo

techcrunch.com

The CEO is Mikhail Kokorich who just 8months ago was tied into an investor fraud dispute for the last company he started Momentus, a rocket start up.

A space company CEO accused of fraud is fighting to clear his name

The first interview with Kokorich about the charges and his new space company in Switzerland

qz.com

Looking at the SPAC ;-

How The Momentus SPAC Started

Stable Road Acquisition Corp., the SPAC that merged with Momentus, was formed in May 2019 with the idea to do a deal in the cannabis industry. As stated in their Prospectus, filed on 11/8/19:

“While our efforts to identify a target business may span many industries and regions worldwide, we intend to focus our search for prospects within the cannabis industry…”

The complaint was;-

“Internal company documents defined success as 100 thruster firings, each lasting at least one minute, but the thruster failed to perform even one firing of that duration, and only three of 23 produced any plasma. Momentus lost contact with the satellite three months into a six-month mission.” And “ While company executives, including Kokorich, were aware of the problems with the satellite, they did not disclose them either publicly or in discussions with Stable Road prior to their October 2020 merger announcement. ”

The claim was settled as follows;-

“ All the parties involved other than Kokorich agreed to settle the SEC’s charges. Momentus will pay a $7 million fine, while Stable Road will pay a $1 million fine and Kabot a $40,000 fine.”

So who on this planet gives the guy another 29million$ for his next company ?

 

[martinbayer]

I just don’t get this;-

This is a hypersonic hydro-lox powered endo-atmospheric transport which has just funded at stage A to 29 million $.

Destinus plans to fly a hydrogen-powered, hypersonic cargo craft with $29M seed round | TechCrunch

A new venture from space infrastructure company Momentus founder and former CEO Mikhail Kokorich aims to build a hypersonic aircraft for autonomous cargo

techcrunch.com

I especially like the statement that "the craft is far from completion".

 

[Archibald]

This is all over the aerospace news but couldn't find a thread about it.

Destinus raises $29 million for hypersonic plane

Destinus SA, the Swiss startup founded by serial entrepreneur Mikhail Kokorich, has raised 26.8 million Swiss francs ($29 million) for its campaign to offer hydrogen-powered supersonic flight.

spacenews.com

Although the guy seems to be a fraud, so forget it. Probably not worth a thread considering the two links thereafters.

https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/momentus-inc.37586/

https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/vtol-on-demand-mobility.28597/page-21#post-517119

 

[TomcatViP]

It's good that they named it nearly after how they think approaching their investors.
A significant progress, indeed.

 

[martinbayer]

A russian "serial entrepreneur" - what could possibly go wrong these days...

 

[Michel Van]

why do i have this strange feeling ?
That those programs suddenly get truckload of money...

 

[TomS]

This is all over the aerospace news but couldn't find a thread about it.

Destinus raises $29 million for hypersonic plane

Destinus SA, the Swiss startup founded by serial entrepreneur Mikhail Kokorich, has raised 26.8 million Swiss francs ($29 million) for its campaign to offer hydrogen-powered supersonic flight.

spacenews.com

Although the guy seems to be a fraud, so forget it. Probably not worth a thread considering the two links thereafters.

https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/momentus-inc.37586/

https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/vtol-on-demand-mobility.28597/page-21#post-517119

How on earth (or off it) is anyone still giving him money? Is "due diligence" not even a thing anymore? A Google search for the guy's name should send them all running.

Or is this just a money laundering scheme -- "investors" put money in, "Entrepreneurs" pretend to spend the money, and said money mysteriously ends up in bank accounts owned by other "investors."

 

[bobbymike]

This hypersonic hydrogen jet could fly from London to New York in 90 mins

Destinus is developing a prototype hydrogen-powered aircraft capable of travelling at five times the speed of sound.

thenextweb.com

 

[TomS]

This hypersonic hydrogen jet could fly from London to New York in 90 mins

Destinus is developing a prototype hydrogen-powered aircraft capable of travelling at five times the speed of sound.

thenextweb.com

Is "serial entrepreneur" code for "con artist" here?

That Eiger model is no bigger than 6 feet long, I'd guess. And it's probably running on a standard RC model turbojet under all the fancy bodywork.

 

[Zoo Tycoon]

It’s a big model aeroplane powered by gas turbines. Nothing hydrogen or hypersonic.

View: https://youtu.be/_DOep01Bk6U

 

[TomcatViP]

Radio ctrld?! Very light model (see liftoff dynamics). The audio is even dubiously original...

But I guess every investor get to get collectibles... A printed T-shirt and a mug?

 

[flateric]

It’s a big model aeroplane powered by gas turbines. Nothing hydrogen or hypersonic.

Ever heard of scaled flying demonstrators?

 

[Zoo Tycoon]

It’s a big model aeroplane powered by gas turbines. Nothing hydrogen or hypersonic.

Ever heard of scaled flying demonstrators?

Yeah, done a few non flying technology demonstrators myself;-My philosophy is to focus on the difficult technology itself not the fluff.

As flying models, I’ve seen a vacuum cleaner fly just for laughs. Destinus isn’t demonstrating anything, it’s not even an appropriate hypersonic aero shape, ref LE displaced bow shocks.

 

[flateric]

...
As I understand, LoFlyte was also built to fly for laughs, and ESA and ONERA aerodynamicists are clowns?

Testing the aerodynamics of a new hypersonic glider

www.esa.int

 

[TomcatViP]

History could tell...

 

[Nik]

"As flying models, I’ve seen a vacuum cleaner fly just for laughs."

Famously, Snoopy + Kennel: IIRC, there were even plans in one of the model mags...

 

[Zoo Tycoon]

...
As I understand, LoFlyte was also built to fly for laughs, and ESA and ONERA aerodynamicists are clowns?

Testing the aerodynamics of a new hypersonic glider

www.esa.int

Pull up a chair and I’ll explain;-

When a vehicle travels at hypersonic speed it produces a shock wave ahead of it called a bow shock. The shock is where air in front of the vehicle is being squished by it’s forward movement and so is big rise in pressure (known as the stagnation pressure). In compliance with Charlie’s law there’s also a big rise in temperature. The concentration of heat energy depends on the feature generating it;- sharp or point features generate vast amounts of heat. The problem here is thermal management of the material at the tip becomes deeply challenging indeed, if subject to this for more than seconds to a minute or so, it becomes impossible. The problem is the inability to conduct the heat away fast enough to prevent an unacceptable temperature raise. Hence it builds and builds until the tip burns, melts or sublimes. A good example of this phenomenon can be seen on the X15 VHF mast in the attached photo (credit NASA);-

So what’s done to avoid this is the use of curved Leading Edges with quite generous radii. This moves the bow shock forwards, indeed off from the structure hence i) reducing the intensity of the pressure/temperature, ii) improving the heat flow from the hot zone and iii) allowing cooler air to flow onto the surface. The surface behind the bow shock still gets really hot to the point high temperature refractory materials such as Carbon-Carbon are required in order to survive. An example is attached together with a picture of the Space Shuttle wing leading edge to illustrate just how big the radii needs to be.

Now the ESA Onera test craft has generous curved leading edges which is consistent with addressing hypersonic kinetic heating issues. So by its appearance it can be seen as a very genuine attempt to investigate how hypersonic shapes fly at low airspeeds.

However Desintus is all sharpe edges and points. It’ll be ok up to about mach3 if made in stainless steel or Titanium but a chocolate teapot above this. Remember they’re claiming this is a demonstration of a Mach 6-10 designed by Europes leading hypersonic engineers.

 

[flateric]

...

 

[flateric]

Remember they’re claiming this is a demonstration of a Mach 6-10 designed by Europes leading hypersonic engineers.

Where they are claiming this?

 

[flateric]

I just remember how sharp inlet/wing LE were on HEXAFLY WT model I saw - and Destinus aerodynamicysts (with ExoMars Schiaparelli EDM and Space Rider design experience) literally say that their design was inspired by LAPCAT/STRATOFLY/HEXAFLY aerodynamic configuration (i.e.waverider).

 

[flateric]

...

 

[TomcatViP]

Some great progress:

This Hypersonic Drone Just Flew With the World’s First Hydrogen-Powered Afterburners

The Destinus drone could be the prototype for a hydrogen-powered, hypersonic jet that will travel from Memphis to Frankfurt in 2.5 hours.

www.yahoo.com

Regarding post above, accute V-shaped inlets are called inward Inlets

 

[Rhinocrates]

"As flying models, I’ve seen a vacuum cleaner fly just for laughs."

Famously, Snoopy + Kennel: IIRC, there were even plans in one of the model mags...

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZSkM-QEeUg

 

[Zoo Tycoon]

From attached article, Destinus claims ;-

“Instead of carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide, hydrogen emits only heat and water vapor.”

Factually incorrect, nitrogen oxide forms when air is heated above temperatures required for propulsion by whatever means. Ref https://www3.epa.gov/ttncatc1/dir1/fnoxdoc.pdf

And as for Introducing a hydrogen pipe into the exhaust of a model jet engine and claiming it’s a hydrogen afterburner….they really are exploiting widespread ignorance of what these components do.

Remember from first post in thread;-

“While company executives, including Kokorich, were aware of the problems”…. “they did not disclose them either publicly or in discussions with Stable Road prior to their October 2020 merger announcement.”

 

[Rhinocrates]

However Desintus is all sharpe edges and points. It’ll be ok up to about mach3 if made in stainless steel or Titanium but a chocolate teapot above this. Remember they’re claiming this is a demonstration of a Mach 6-10 designed by Europes leading hypersonic engineers.

As I understand it, the holy grail of materials technology in design for hypersonic flight is something that can have a sharp leading edge without being destroyed by the intense heating that would result. Indeed, even earlier designs that have sharp leading edges have wide, wedge-like noses to spread the heat with the wing leading edges well behind the shock cone - the X-43 is a prime example (unbuilt 'X-43C' shown below). The reason for this is to allow relatively easy transition though the supersonic regime to the hypersonic, and relatively efficient aerodynamics at transonic and supersonic speeds.

I think there's been a lot of research into ceramic-based materials that can allow a sharp leading edge that can be formed into aerodynamic shapes and survive hypersonic heating. There's also been talk at least of active cooling. 3-D printing or advanced milling techniques could perhaps put capillaries in panels, through which the fuel circulates before going to the engines for example, but it's bound to be expensive to perfect.

Judging by renders, Lockheed's 'SR-72' probably employs one of these. I would suppose a company with their experience and resources could manage it.

If I were a Destinus rep, I'd be boasting about how I had made one of these solutions work practically and show off test data to prove it. If in fact I'd actually seen this done of course... Right now, that's the dog that's not barking.

 

[publiusr]

Hypersonics—for fans of chisels…

 

[martinbayer]

Hic Rhodus, hic salta.

 

[GTX]

Destinus presents IA-piloted hypersonic jet able to strike without human intervention

Destinus presents IA-piloted hypersonic jet able to strike without human intervention

www.armyrecognition.com

 

[TomcatViP]

I think someone misread the statement. From Destinus website:

The Destinus G is a 5.5-ton MTOW, remotely or AI-piloted, jet-powered supersonic UAV designed for Mach 2+ interdiction of airborne targets such as enemy aircraft, subsonic, supersonic, and hypersonic missiles.

The targets are potentially hypersonic. The UAS itself is a Mach 2 airframe.

G | A 5.5-ton MTOW jet-powered supersonic UAV, remotely or AI-piloted.

www.destinus.com