From: null@void.com   
      
   You are folk of many talents.   
      
   Does anyone have knowledge or insight(s) about the Russian   
   "Burevestnik" ("storm petrel") 's engine / propulsion system - that   
   they can comment without getting themselves into trouble ... ?   
      
   Coming from an American Professor who knows far more than he can   
   possibly reveal, he does use publicly available information to   
   assemble these facts - including "Western" intelligence-gathering   
   sources:   
   * the cruise-missile flies at Mach0.75 (Mach0.6 more like Mach0.8)   
   * it flew at that speed for 15 days [so it cannot possibly be   
   propelled by a chemical fuel - even if it had nothing but fuel   
   on-board no chemical fuel is calorific enough]   
   * it did not trail any fission products [it is assumed if   
   nuclear-propelled the neutron flux would activate the air for a few   
   seconds - much as a BWR (Boiling-Water Reactor) activates the water /   
   steam which circulates through the turbine-hall]   
      
   So - if it's not propelled by a fission-nuclear power-plant, the   
   explanation would have to be even more "mind-bending" than that.   
   It seems it is powered/propelled by a fission nuclear reactor.   
      
   It seems there was an American attempt in the 1950's - a test motor, if   
   not a flying "thing" - but it trailed fission waste - which made it   
   "only a demo" in being given a short test-run while being otherwise   
   unusable.   
      
   So this "Burevestnik" seems to be nuclear-powered and is contained -   
   and flies...   
      
   "contained" - doesn't trail nuclear fission waste - suggests serious   
   materials-technology challenges have been overcome.  The temperatures   
   achieved and passed-on to the air going through the engine must be   
   "something else".  For a (ground-based) power-station the efficiency   
   of the thing would make current PWR's and BWR's look   
   like Newcomen's "atmospheric engine" comparing to a current   
   steam-turbine plant...   
      
   There is speculation it's a "ramjet", with the heat provided by a   
   nuclear reactor.   
      
   For a start, could anyone point me to a good source on what a "ramjet"   
   is and how it works.   
      
   "Wikipedia" and the like comment that ramjets are mainly considered to   
   work best at supersonic speeds - eg. Mach2.5   
   A ramject would work at Mach0.75?   
      
   I don't know how to take it beyond there.   
      
   Thanks for everything so far, and I will look if anyone can step-in   
   and enlighten on this.   
      
   Regards,   
   Rich Smith   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)