Chinese scientists build world’s first jet fuel-powered engine for Mach 16 flight

As the need for speed grows, researchers have developed an engine that uses standard aviation kerosene to travel up to 20,000km/h

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Chinese researchers have developed an engine that uses standard aviation kerosene to travel up to Mach 16, which could be a game-changer in hypersonic flight. Photo: Chinese Academy of Sciences

Published: 4:00pm, 26 Feb 2025Updated: 5:27pm, 27 Feb 2025

The world’s first oblique detonation engine (ODE) powered by standard aviation kerosene has been successfully tested by Chinese scientists, marking a potential game-changer in hypersonic propulsion that could redefine the limits of air and space travel.

In a series of groundbreaking experiments at Beijing’s JF-12 shock tunnel, which simulates high-Mach flight conditions in altitudes of over 40km (25 miles), researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) achieved sustained oblique detonation waves using RP-3 jet fuel, a common commercial kerosene.

The results, published in China’s Journal of Experiments in Fluid Mechanics, suggest combustion rates 1,000 times faster than traditional scramjet engines, with operational capability between Mach 6 and Mach 16 – a speed where conventional air-breathing engines falter.

Unlike scramjets, which require bulky combustion chambers and struggle with flame-out risks at high Mach speeds, the ODE harnesses shock waves as allies.

By strategically positioning a 5mm bump on the combustor wall, engineers found they could induce self-sustaining “detonation diamonds” – ultra-fast shock wave-fuelled explosions – that completed combustion in microseconds.

“The shock wave compresses and ignites the fuel-air mix so violently that it creates a self-reinforcing explosion front,” wrote the team led by Han Xin, lead researcher of the project with the CAS Institute of Mechanics.

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Chinese scientists build world’s first jet fuel-powered engine for Mach 16 flight

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}As the need for speed grows, researchers have developed an engine that uses standard aviation kerosene to travel up to 20,000km/h

As the need for speed grows, researchers have developed an engine that uses standard aviation kerosene to travel up to 20,000km/h