The tragic and only crash of a Concorde airliner, Air France Flight 4590, marked the end of supersonic travel for some and, at the very least, a colossal step backward for others. Well, if you thought The Future was pretty much never going to happen, a venture funded largely by the European Space Agency and the European Union may just be able to make you believe again. Check out the A2.
Being called the "Son of Concorde," the plane will do everything its predecessor did, but better. It's liquid hydrogen engines allow it to reach speeds of Mach 5, run cleaner than current jet engines, and it'll be able to get 300 passengers from England to Australia in under five hours. The A2 is still as loud as any supersonic concept out there, so it'll cruise just under Mach 1 until it's out over unpopulated areas, and then hit the gas.
Via Daily Mail
editor@dvice.com
By murc at 1:53 AM ON 02/08/08
its cool looking and all, and mach 5.....sweet.
but it has 2 hurdles left.
1. Sonic boom
&
2. no windows
By EasyB at 7:00 AM ON 02/09/08
how can sonic boom be a hurdle? surely there hundreds of sonic booms on a daily basis around the world.
no windows is a problem though... @ 100 000ft the view would be epic.
By cactusman at 8:53 AM ON 02/10/08
The sonic boom problem is going to plague supersonic air travel for the forseeable future. Until engineers develop a way to overcome this problem there will never be a mass market for this kind of air travel. Remember - the first problem that doomed the Concorde was the sonic boom as it would travel over land to airports in/near populated regions. Maybe at extreme altitudes this won't have much of an efect on the people on the ground. As for windows...there's always the possibility of 'virtual windows' - i.e. video displays. No risk of explosive decompression from structural failures but people may not want to pay thousands of dollars for a seat and not be able to see outside.
By cbgjr at 7:04 PM ON 02/11/08
"Windows? Passengers don't need no stinking window!"
The pilots, however, would probably feel more comfortable with windows... Unless, of course, the pilots will be remotely located, tele-operating the A2 while the lounge on a Rivera beach [or some featureless, windowless concrete cube]
As to sonic booms, the United States Air Force has attorney's stationed world-wide to handle claims for damage resulting from sonic booms originating from US military aircraft.
By GRey at 8:39 PM ON 02/15/08
I think that the use of computers may be possible to reduce the effect of sonic booms. I am thinking that they could be used to calculate the ideal acceleration speed through the sound barrier and also to make sure that sonic booms occur only in areas where the potential damage will be minimized or eliminated. Even if that were not possible, the ability to reduce trans-oceanic flights to a reasonable time would be a great feat.
By Informative at 1:29 PM ON 02/16/08
I don't see how to remove the issue of the sonic boom but above 40,000 ft the sonic boom from an aircraft at Mach 1 doesn't reach the ground therefore, no problem.
By MICHAEL J. SCHMITZ at 7:53 PM ON 02/16/08
LOOKS LIKE A INK PEN WITH A COUPLE OF ENGINES. HOW TO YOU PLAN ON SEEING IN FRONT OF YOU OR IS YOUR COCKPIT IN THE TIP. GOOD LUCK.
By Max Smart at 8:12 PM ON 02/16/08
A "sonic boom" always occurs, not matter how quickly you go through the transonic range (Mach 0.8-1.2). Also, above Mach 1 you get sonic booms continually, not just when you pass through the supposed sound barrier, so noise is ALWAYS a problem. As for the no windows out front, a conventional cockpit adds a lot of drag, so to go Mach 5 that drag must be reduced. Put cameras up front and have the pilots sit inside the aircraft using the cameras to see. Passengers will probably have a screen in the back of the seat in front of them that also allows them to see outside the aircraft. The aerodynamic heating is intense at constant hypersonic flight so windows are probably not possible.
By Pradtl at 8:16 PM ON 02/16/08
The sonic boom wouldn't even be an issue over land if countries made it legal. The only reason it's illegal in the U.S. to break the sound barrier over land is because hippy tree huggers thought sonic booms would be bad for the environment.
By h04x at 8:44 AM ON 02/17/08
come on people, can't you guys spot a hoax when you see one?
By sadpanda at 7:52 AM ON 02/26/08
Get some common sense. This is a hoax.
Put some BS on the internet, and suddenly everyone thinks he's an expert... .
By Biggles200 at 5:40 PM ON 03/19/08
It looks like a poor copy of Barnes Wallis Swallow from 50 years ago. Why are we so slow to use the way birds fly - put one wing out and the other in and you turn - real swing wing technology - don't do it the american way and use a rudder
By bazzybtec at 6:14 AM ON 11/19/08
How is this a hoax this is in the makings there have been formal interviews of people working on the project. The expected completion time is around 2015 and it is supposed to fly between England and Australia. Also how is there a problem with sonic boom if the aircraft is going to do what Concorde did and fly at sub sonic over land and supersonic over water, there is a lot of water between England and Australia. I am very sure this story has been verified