December 16, 2007
Day trips to Australia came a step closer to reality today when a British firm unveiled plans for a hypersonic passenger jet which could fly from Europe to Sydney in less than five hours.
Reaction Engines of Oxfordshire says that its A2 plane could be in service within 25 years, carrying 300 passengers at a top speed of almost 4,000 mph, five times the speed of sound and twice the speed of Concorde.
The LAPCAT (Long-Term Advanced Propulsion Concepts and Technologies) project has been funded by the European Space Agency to encourage companies seeking to use the technology of space travel to improve air travel.
"The A2 is designed to leave Brussels international airport, fly quietly and subsonically out into the north Atlantic at mach 0.9 before reaching mach 5 across the North Pole and heading over the Pacific to Australia," said Alan Bond, the head of Reaction Engines.
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The plane would be 143 metres (469 feet) long - twice the size of the biggest current jets - and could fly non-stop for up to 12,500 miles.
It would operate on liquid hydrogen, which is more ecologically friendly as it gives off water and nitrous oxide instead of carbon emissions.
Passengers would have to put up with having no windows, due to problems with heat produced at high speeds. Instead designers may put flat screen televisions where the windows would be, giving the impression of seeing outside.
Fares would be comparable with current first class tickets on standard flights, of around £3,500 ($6,900). The flight time from Europe to Australia would be a mere four hours and 40 minutes.
"It sounds incredible by today's standards but I don't see why future generations can't make day trips to Australasia," said Mr Bond.
"Our work shows that it is possible technically; now it's up to the world to decide if it wants it."
The ESA's website says that hypersonic flight is generally considered to begin at Mach 5, when aerodynamic heating becomes important in aircraft design, with temperatures in the boundary layer and on the surface of an object reaching 1,000C.
Hypersonic flight is not new. The first man-made object to reach hypersonic speeds was the two-stage US "Bumper" rocket, assembled from a captured German V-2 rocket in 1949.
Astronauts and cosmonauts have all reached hypersonic speeds while passing through the atmosphere on their way to or from orbit. Current research, however, focuses on sustained hypersonic flight within the Earth's atmosphere.
The ESA says that the Space Shuttle punches through the atmosphere as quickly as possible on its way into orbit, but the LAPCAT project is focusing on an aircraft that would remain well within the Earth's atmosphere throughout its flight.
The Shuttle uses the thrust of its engines to fight the force of gravity, while by contrast a hypersonic jet would use the aerodynamic lifting force generated on its wings and fuselage.
This vision of sustained hypersonic flight requires air-breathing engines, which are highly efficient because they scoop oxygen from the atmosphere rather than from an onboard tank.
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scramjet engineby arnage85100,250 views
what is this?
kalotatos9 3 years ago