Originally posted by BlasteR
I'm just saying that it uses air in small amounts at a time for each detonation. Not exactly what we are used to with the more traditional "air-breathing" engines from years gone past. But I get what you are saying too. Technically, since it uses an air-fuel mixture it is an air-breathing engine. But a large majority of the air simply passes through the system. That's all I'm really saying.

What you seem to have a problem with is that a PDE is not a steady-state thermodynamic process, it's inherently transient. In conventional high bypass turbofans (which are certainly not only "from years gone past"), most of the air passes through the system without being used for combustion, but it's still an air-breathing engine. I guess I'm nitpicking, but these terms do have specific meanings, and an air-breathing engine is defined by where the oxidizer used for combustion comes from, not the thermodynamic process or what comes out the back of the engine.

I seem to remember Nick Cook on TV with a photo he had in his possession showing what looked like a flight taking off from Area 51, and going straight out over the atlantic in very short order.
It was a satellite image, and showed the typical contrail with the hoops at regular intervals - he was saying (if memory serves correctly) that it took around 35 minutes to get from Nevada to off image over the atlantic....

Does anyone know where I can find a copy of this photo online?