Ever wished plane rides could
be cut shorter to avoid air sickness or something?
Well, it's likely to happen in reality with the upcoming A2. This
hypersonic airliner can travel with a top speed of 3,400 mph.
The ground-breaking form of transportation is currently the work of
British Engineers at Reaction Engines Limited in Oxfordshire.
Alan Bond, a senior engineer in the project, noted that this 5.4
million GBP (US$ 10.5 million) scheme aims to study the types of
propulsion systems required "to reduce long-distance flights, such
as from Brussels to Sydney, to less than two to four hours."
Branded as the "Son of Concorde", it's at 433 feet long that can
cruise an altitude of 100,00 feet. This commercial plane is
designed to carry 300 passengers and can reach top speeds of Mach
5, five times the speed of sound.
Also, this hypersonic plane will only be fueled by liquid hydrogen.
It will only produce water vapor and nitrous oxide as exhaust and
the carbon emissions will be negligible.
Even if this plane has the potential to revolutionize air travel,
it's has one certain drawback. It doesn't have windows. That
shouldn't matter since the travel time's not going to be that long
anyway.