Tue, Jun 26, 2012
Projections Are For London-Sydney Flight In Four Hours
A consortium of companies working with NASA reportedly will take the wraps off their new SST concepts at the Farnborough Air Show next month. Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Gulfstream are all said to be collaborating with the space agency to build a suspersonic business jet that will travel from London, U.K., to Sydney, AU, a 12,000 mile trip, in just four hours.
Show executives say that the concepts for the airplanes will be "sketched out" at the show. The three companies working with NASA say they have managed to reduce the "sonic boom" created by supersonic flight to a "sonic puff or plop," as described by a Gulfstream engineer. The designs feature advanced composite materials and smaller fuselages which will allow the airplanes to fly nearly twice as fast as the Concorde, according to a report in the U.K. newspaper The Mail.
NASA wind tunnel tests show that the sonic boom can be nearly eliminated by using super-thin wings and hidden engines. The sonic boom was one of the reasons that Concorde was restricted from flying over much of the U.S., which many cite as a reason for it's lack of commercial success.
Another player in the supersonic business jet arena is Aerion, which has had its SBJ in development for several years. A Texas hedge fund trader has already put down 50 deposits of $200,000 each for the Aerion SBJ, though no dates for certification or delivery have been set.
But with several major companies apparently ready to unveil fairly concrete concepts, some are saying that the era of the supersonic business jet is finally on the horizon.
(Picutured: Lockheed Martin "Green Machine" artist's concept provided by NASA)
More News
Aero Linx: JAARS Nearly 1.5 billion people, using more than 5,500 languages, do not have a full Bible in their first language. Many of these people live in the most remote parts of>[...]
'Airplane Bounced Twice On The Grass Runway, Resulting In The Nose Wheel Separating From The Airplane...' Analysis: The pilot reported, “upon touchdown, the plane jumped back>[...]
"Burt is best known to the public for his historic designs of SpaceShipOne, Voyager, and GlobalFlyer, but for EAA members and aviation aficionados, his unique concepts began more t>[...]
"Polaris Dawn, the first of the program’s three human spaceflight missions, is targeted to launch to orbit no earlier than summer 2024. During the five-day mission, the crew >[...]
There Are SO Many Ways To Get YOUR Aero-News! It’s been a while since we have reminded everyone about all the ways we offer your daily dose of aviation news on-the-go...so he>[...]