Air turborocket apparatus with precooler heat exchanger at the air intake

An aircraft

• comprising one or more air turborocket apparatuses, each comprising:
• an air intake:
• a compressor;
• a turbine;
• a combustion chamber;
• a gas generator system including a preburner and a driving system;
• and
• a coupling system configured to couple the turbine with one or each of the compressor and the driving system. wherein
• the driving system is configured to drive fuel along two flow paths, the two flow paths including
• a first flow path extending to the combustion chamber via the preburner and the turbine, and
• a second flow path extending to one or each of the preburner and the combustion chamber, via a heat exchanger in thermal communication with the air intake.

A method of operating an air turborocket apparatus, the method comprising:

• providing an air turborocket apparatus comprising an air intake, a compressor, a turbine, a combustion chamber, a gas generator system including a preburner and a driving system, and a coupling system configured to couple the turbine with one or each of the compressor and the driving system, wherein the driving system is configured to drive fuel along two flow paths, the two flow paths including
• a first flow path extending to the combustion chamber via the preburner and the turbine, and
• a second flow path extending to one or each of the preburner and the combustion chamber, via a heat exchanger in thermal communication with the air intake;
• operating the air turborocket apparatus for
• the air intake to receive atmospheric air,
• the compressor to compress atmospheric air received by the air intake, and
• the driving system to drive fuel
• along the first flow path to inject fuel into the preburner and partly combust the injected fuel, expand a fluid containing the partly combusted fuel through the turbine and rotate it, to transfer energy to one or each of the compressor and the driving system, and guide the expanded fluid to the combustion chamber, for it to combust a mixture of the compressed atmospheric air and a fluid including the expanded fluid, and
• along the second flow path to heat up fuel via the heat exchanger and inject the heated fuel into the preburner and/or the combustion chamber.