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NASA wants to get commercial passengers from New York to London in less time than it takes to see an average movie during a flight.
The US space agency announced this week that it has been exploring “the business case for supersonic passenger air travel.”
The craft promises breakneck speeds between Mach 2 and Mach 4, or about 1,535 to 3,045 miles per hour (mph), easily more than double the top speed of an F/A-18 fighter jet of Mach 1.8 or 1,190. mph.
According to NASA, the next phase of its high-speed air travel research is already underway: two 12-month contracts awarded to Boeing, Rolls-Royce and others to help conceptualize the new aircraft and build a “technology roadmap.” “.
Earlier this summer, NASA completed its quiet X-59 supersonic test plane, which is designed to dampen its own sonic booms; the program that will serve as inspiration for the new jet project.
The X-59 is scheduled to make its first test flight later this year.
The world’s fastest airliner, the French and British-made Concorde (right) made its best flight between New York and London on February 7, 1996, crossing the Atlantic in just 2 hours, 52 minutes and 59 seconds . NASA (above left) hopes to cut that flight time nearly in half
The X-59 (above), nicknamed the “son of the Concorde,” is designed to travel at speeds of up to 925 mph. The small test plane could allow you to fly from London to New York in less than four hours
The world’s fastest airliner today, the French and British-made Concorde made its swift flight between New York and London on February 7, 1996, crossing the Atlantic in just 2 hours, 52 minutes, and 59 seconds.
For comparison, the standard large airliner today flies at a cruise speed of about 600 mph, just under Mach 1, at about 80 percent the speed of sound.
These planes can take 5 hours or more to make the 3,461-mile journey from New York to London.
The Concorde, by contrast, enjoys a top cruise speed of 1,354 mph, or Mach 2.04.
But the Concorde planes were withdrawn from service in 2003 following a crisis in the commercial aviation industry and the first and only widely publicized Concorde crash in 2000.
NASA hopes to cut even the speedy Concorde’s flight time by nearly in half.
In his press release, POT they said they expected will see flights from New York City to London speed up “up to four times faster than is currently possible.”
From its business analysis, the agency believes that there are potential passenger markets on up to 50 established multi-city connecting routes, focusing first on cross-ocean flights to minimize regulatory hurdles.
According to NASA Hypersonic Technology Project Director Mary Jo Long-Davis, the development phase of the new hypersonic airliner will focus on reducing noise during takeoff and landing at the beginning, leaving any problems with the aircraft for later. sonic booms in mid-flight.
Both the United States and many other nations ban supersonic land flights, citing noise pollution from sonic booms and other problems.
High-altitude emissions and other environmental factors, Long-Davis said, are the critical initial concerns for his new project.
“We are also collectively aware of the need to take safety, efficiency, economic and social considerations into account,” Long-Davis said.
“It is important to innovate responsibly to return benefits to travelers and not harm the environment.”
NASA announced this week that it has been exploring “the business case for supersonic passenger air travel,” promising breakneck speeds between Mach 2 and Mach 4, or roughly 1,535 to 3,045 mph. Above, a mockup of NASA’s X-59, with its estimated top speed of Mach 1.4.
A Concorde airliner (above) has a top cruise speed of 1,354 mph, or Mach 2.04
NASA’s Advanced Air Vehicle Program (AAVP) will oversee the two new contracts that will produce technology roadmaps detailing the options, risks, and challenges of hypersonic air travel, as well as the innovations needed to achieve “Mach 2-plus travel.” “.
“It’s really important to get our hands on design concepts and technology roadmaps when the ventures are done,” said NASA’s Long-Davis.
Aerospace giant Boeing will lead the first team, managing partners including Exosonic, GE Aerospace, Georgia Tech Aerospace Systems Design Laboratory and Rolls-Royce North American Technologies.
Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems will lead the second contract team, overseeing partners Blue Ridge Research and Consulting, Boom Supersonic and Rolls-Royce North American Technologies, which participates on both teams.
Both teams will be tasked with designing concepts for the airliner’s airframe, its power system, propulsion methods, friction management and heat exhaust, and the lightweight yet strong composite materials employed.
These technology roadmaps will also create non-proprietary, i.e. public domain, designs for high-flying concept vehicles.
“We conducted similar conceptual studies more than a decade ago at Mach 1.6-1.8, and the resulting roadmaps have helped guide NASA’s research efforts since then, including those leading to X-59,” he said. Lori Ozoroski, director of NASA’s Commercial Supersonic Technology Project, said in a press release.
“These new studies will update technology roadmap reviews and identify additional research needs for a broader range of high speed.”
The public-private collaboration will recall NASA’s QueSST mission, which led to the X-59 test craft to reduce sonic boom, conducted in partnership with defense contractor Lockheed Martin.
QueSST and the X-59 have an ongoing mandate to provide experimental data to federal regulators that would help change the rules that prohibit supersonic ground flights, by showing that those flights can be quieter and meet other legal standards.
Once these contracts are concluded, according to NASA, the space agency and its partners from both industry and academia will independently evaluate whether or not to continue the research with their own funding.