The World’s First Hypersonic Jet Revealed
Passengers looking to travel from London to Sydney in just three and a-half-hours will finally have an option in the world's first hypersonic passenger jet. Aerospace group EADS revealed the hypersonic jet which uses rocket engines used in missiles will be able to fly in speeds of 5029km per hour more than the speed of sound, Reuters' reports.
The Zero Emission Hypersonic Transportation or ZEHST for short will also be a green plane. It will use a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen to propel itself and will fly above the atmosphere to avoid supersonic booms and pollution. The futuristic jet which looks like the beloved Concorde will use a regular runway to take off but will cruise above the atmosphere.
The ZEHST was primarily conceived as the next great push in aerodesign. With such companies like Virgin Galactic promising to take passengers to space, the ZEHST will provide another alternative to commercial air transport. EADS says passengers will not need additional training in order to fly in the ZEHST as it will only go a maximum of 1.2 G.
"The acceleration on people is very low, so no specific equipment or training is needed," says Jean Botti, EADS' chief technical officer.
Although the ZEHST is using technology that has been created before this is the first time it's being used for commercial flight. The plane will take off using a regular turbofan engine before the rocket boosters will send the plane soaring to the atmosphere. The plane will cruise at speeds beyond Mach 4 or four times the speed of sound. The jet can carry 50-100 passengers.
EADS boss Louis Gallois is telling potential customers to remain calm and wait another 30-40 years before the ZEHST is ready for commercial use.
"We're not talking about a product that we launch in the next few years. We have to see security, integration of different technologies, how man reacts to it."