Imagine soaring from New York to London in less time than it takes to finish an average movie. NASA’s recent groundbreaking venture is aimed at revolutionizing transatlantic travel. They’ve embarked on the creation of a supersonic passenger jet that boasts a blistering top speed of Mach 4 (approximately 4,900 km/h). To put this in perspective, this not only doubles Concorde’s impressive Mach 2 (2,450 km/h) speed but also outpaces the famed SR-71 Blackbird spy plane that had a design speed of Mach 3.2 (3,920 km/h).
The sky of the future holds a fresh vision of Airbus. A gleaming, brand-new incarnation of the European aircraft manufacturing giant’s A320neo family is anticipated to make its debut sometime between 2035 and 2040. Ambitious targets set the prospective fuel consumption at 20-25% less than current levels, but numerous obstacles remain. Central to these is the necessity of fine-tuning the Open Fan technology, a cutting-edge engine design developed by CFM.
NASA is collaborating with Boeing on a project to improve the sustainability of aircraft design, as part of its efforts to reduce fuel consumption. The $1.15 billion project aims to build and test a more fuel-efficient version of the Boeing 737, which currently accounts for nearly half of all domestic flights in the US.
Boeing is investing USD 450 million to help develop fully electric air taxis capable of unmanned flight and vertical take-off and landing. According to a statement from California-based Wisk Aero, the company is developing so-called sixth-generation eVTOL (electrically powered vertical take-off and landing) passenger aircraft, which would be able to fly unmanned and therefore autonomously.
Not much is known about the concept at the moment, but it is more than likely that the Mach 5+ machine will be used not only for space industry, but also for military purposes. Guy Norris, editor-in-chief of Aviation Week, caught a model of Boeing’s all-new hypersonic aircraft at the AIAA SciTech show in San Diego recently.
Technical support was provided by Boeing and fuel by World Energy. Transport is one the drivers of greenhouse gas emissions, and it is no coincidence that this is an area where a lot of effort is being put into finding greener and more sustainable alternatives to existing solutions.