Boeing has unveiled its concept for a hypersonic airliner that could travel nearly three times as fast as the supersonic Concorde, getting passengers from New York to London in two hours.
Designers of the aircraft believe it will reach speeds of 4,000 mph or Mach 5, the Daily Star reported. The unnamed airliner may also be able to cross the Pacific in three hours.
The Concorde, which had speeds of just over Mach 2, was retired in 2003 following a tragic crash in 2000 and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that caused lowered passenger numbers.
The concept for the first passenger-carrying hypersonic vehicle was introduced at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics conference in Atlanta on Tuesday. It will serve military and commercial purposes, Boeing announced.
But don’t rush to make reservations — the airliner could be available for passenger travel in 20 to 30 years, said Kevin Bowcutt, Boeing’s senior technical fellow and chief scientist of hypersonics.
However, the airliner could be ready for military applications within 10 years, the Daily Star reported.
“We’re excited about the potential of hypersonic technology to connect the world faster than ever before,” Bowcutt said in a statement. He added that the concept stems from six decades of designing and experimenting “to lead the effort in bringing this technology to market in the future.”
A changing, fast-paced world has made the supersonic vehicles outdated.
“Supersonic isn’t really fast enough to go overseas and back in one day,” Bowcutt noted, the Daily Star reported. “For the business traveler or the military, where time is really important, that’s an interesting point. Mach 5 is where you can do that.”
Although Boeing seems to have taken a step ahead in the development of hypersonic air travel, other airlines and NASA also are looking at the approach.
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