Posted by paul101
Designers Unveil 4,000mph Passenger Jet
A British team has designed a hypersonic passenger aeroplane that could one day fly passengers between Europe and Australia in less than five hours.
Artist's impression of jetThe A2 was designed by Oxfordshire-based Reaction Engines and would carry 300 passengers at a top speed of almost 4,000mph.
The company says the aircraft could be operating within 25 years and ticket prices would be comparable with an existing business class ticket, currently about £3,500.
The LAPCAT (Long-Term Advanced Propulsion Concepts and Technologies) project is being funded by the European Space Agency.
The ESA wants to encourage companies to push the boundaries of commercial air travel using technology more commonly associated with space travel.
Reaction Engines says the A2 is capable of sustained travel at Mach 5 - or 3,800mph - which is more than twice the speed of Concorde.
At 143-metres long, it is roughly twice the size of the biggest current jumbo jets.
It runs on a liquid hydrogen Scimitar engine still being developed that is based on existing technology.
The ESA's website says hypersonic flight is generally considered to begin at Mach 5.
This is 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.
Artist's impression of jetThe A2 was designed by Oxfordshire-based Reaction Engines and would carry 300 passengers at a top speed of almost 4,000mph.
The company says the aircraft could be operating within 25 years and ticket prices would be comparable with an existing business class ticket, currently about £3,500.
The LAPCAT (Long-Term Advanced Propulsion Concepts and Technologies) project is being funded by the European Space Agency.
The ESA wants to encourage companies to push the boundaries of commercial air travel using technology more commonly associated with space travel.
Reaction Engines says the A2 is capable of sustained travel at Mach 5 - or 3,800mph - which is more than twice the speed of Concorde.
At 143-metres long, it is roughly twice the size of the biggest current jumbo jets.
It runs on a liquid hydrogen Scimitar engine still being developed that is based on existing technology.
The ESA's website says hypersonic flight is generally considered to begin at Mach 5.
This is 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.
Via Sky News and Yahoo!
masseur?????
[ This Message was edited by: paul101 on 2008-02-05 16:17 ]
Posted by mosdelln
That plane looks bloody awful!
Just bring Concorde back into production again.
Posted by paul101
this plane goes TWICE s fast as the Concorde!!
where's masseur's opinion backing me up when i need it?? *sighs and bashes head on keyboard*
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[ This Message was edited by: paul101 on 2008-02-05 16:27 ]
Posted by BobaFett
within 25 years... great
Posted by paul101
^^ thats in my lifetime
Posted by mosdelln
Maybe twice as fast but not as good looking as the Concorde
Posted by masseur
sounds great!
th pic reminds me of the Fireflash from Thunderbirds
Posted by Twometre
On 2008-02-05 17:27:03, BobaFett wrote:
within 25 years... great
@boba how old are you now. nothing personal mate.
@masseur just what i wanted to recall, I wonder if anyone else here remembers the thunderbirds.
But then the whole project sounds more l;ike a good idea.
Posted by paul101
whats a thunderbird??
Posted by masseur
even if you haven't seen the recent movie, or the car on top gear, surely you have seen at least one of the original series
Posted by paul101
no, no, no and no
*googles thunderbirds*
Posted by fatreg
^^ oh my.. how young are you!?
Posted by paul101
err you know my age
