Reaction Engines' Pre-Cooler...

A fascinating technological development, passed along by friend, neighbor, and reader Dick F. The video is a bit hyperbolic (they are looking for investors :), but the technology and its potential are fascinating nonetheless.

If you're not familiar with the challenges of jet engines at high speeds, you might be surprised to find that one of the most difficult challenges is heat – not from the combustion of fuel, but rather from the compression of the air being rammed into the front of the engine.  The pre-cooler developed by Reaction Engines is aimed at solving that challenge.  If they pull it off, hypersonic passenger aircraft traveling at 5,000 km/hour (3,000 miles/hour) are almost certainly in our future. I don't know about you, but personally I love the idea of traveling from San Diego to London in 90 minutes or so...