The fastest just got faster. Yesterday, Jessi Combs blazed across the Oregon’s Alvord Desert in the North American Eagle (NAE) Supersonic Speed Challenger at a two-way average speed of 344 miles per hour. In doing so, she set a new women’s land speed record, breaking the previous mark of 308 miles per hour.
3D Systems' Geomagic software has long been part of the NAE team in its quest to bring the overall land speed record back to the USA; the British ThrustSSC is the current record holder at just over 763 miles per hour. For the better part of the last decade, NAE team owner Ed Shadle has used scan data in Geomagic Studio® to create a precise 3D model of the Supersonic Speed Challenger. (Geomagic Studio allowed them to bypass the virtually impossible process of creating a dependable 3D model from scratch in a CAD system.) Engineers then use this model to measure airflows, the effect of shock waves and the material properties of the vehicle in an effort to maximize performance, stability and safety.
Click here to get the play by play of Combs’ record-breaking feat.