London to Tokyo in 2hrs, EADS unveils ZEHST blueprint

[Denny Yen 0]

 

 

 

London to Tokyo in two hours: Blueprints for 3,000mph hypersonic plane are unveiled... but it will take 40 years to build

By NICK MCDERMOTT

Last updated at 11:48 PM on 19th June 2011

 

 

It will take only two hours to fly from London to Tokyo, be virtually pollution free, and promises to be no louder than today’s modern planes.

There’s only one catch for prospective commuters – it will be another 40 years before commercial flights take place.

 

Plans were yesterday unveiled for the first hypersonic passenger jet, which would use three sets of engines to reach 3,125mph, more than four times the speed of sound, known as Mach 4.

 

Hailed as the heir to Concorde, the aircraft would be propelled by a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen, meaning its only emissions would be water.

The project, developed by Airbus’s parent company EADS, was unveiled before the official opening of the Paris Air Show today.

 

Carrying up to 100 passengers, a set of conventional jet engines would help launch the aircraft from a normal airport runway, meaning the aircraft would not produce the noisy ‘sonic boom’ that Concorde did.

 

Once at a suitable height, the pilot would engage a pair of rocket engines which would propel the aircraft to much higher speeds and soar above the atmosphere, allowing a final set of engines known as ramjets to be utilised.

 

Currently used in missiles, these are highly efficient at speeds above 1,000mph, but cannot work from a standing start. They will help take the plane up to altitudes of 20 miles as it cruises at speeds beyond Mach 4. Cruising altitude for conventional passenger jets is around six miles.

 

Once at cruising speed, the plane – dubbed ZEHST, for Zero Emission Hypersonic Transportation – could fly from London to Malaga in southern Spain in just 20 minutes. A flight to Istanbul would take 30 minutes, and the plane could reach the east coast of the U.S. in around one hour.

 

It would knock some nine hours off the flying time to Tokyo, while the journey to Sydney would take around three-and-a-half hours. After a gliding descent, the conventional engines will reignite to enable landing.

 

Jean Botti, innovation and technology director at EADS, said: ‘It is not a Concorde but it looks like a Concorde, showing that aerodynamics of the 1960s were already very smart.

 

'It is not a Concorde but it looks like a Concorde, showing that aerodynamics of the 1960s were already very smart.'

 

‘The plane would fly just above the atmosphere, meaning it could fly at more than 3,000mph.

 

'When you are above the atmosphere nobody hears anything. We’ve been working on this project for long enough now to know it is viable.’

 

Unlike conventional aircraft, the plane would be powered by biofuels made from seaweed – hydrogen and oxygen – therefore making it one of the world’s most eco-friendly aircraft.

 

The company, based in Toulouse, France, believes a plane capable of carrying up to 100 passengers could make its first commercial flight within 40 years.

 

But its limited capacity could be a major flaw, according to aviation experts. David Kaminski-Morrow, air transport editor at Flight International, said: ‘It is still very much a concept vehicle, but it is within capability, the technology is available. The real difficulty is the economics of making a completely new type of aircraft work. It will take billions to take it off the drawing board and into the skies.

 

‘But will there be an appetite to build an aircraft that does not take an awful lot of passengers?’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2005513/From-London-Tokyo-hours-Blueprints-3-000mph-hypersonic-plane-unveiled--itll-40-years-build.html#

[Mohd Suhaimi Fariz 2]

It's hard to be optimistic about any supersonic/hypersonic plane concepts. If airlines are seriously looking for speed, then the heir to Concorde would have flown in the Nineties!

[Johan Z 0]

SQ and EK might be interested, especially with hydrogen fuel. SQ proves operating premium-only widebody can be profitable. EK on the other hand can make everything possible.

[Rob 0]

Not long before it meets its fate - that of Boeing's 2207 SST.

[Alif A. F. 0]

I read roughly the same thing in an old encyclopaedia (which my uncle bought in USA, it was published in the 80s). It said roughly the same thing, London to Tokyo in few hours, and so on, so on. And an interesting point about it was that the plane would be on the skies in the year 2000.

[Mike P 0]

No doubt it would take 40 years or even longer. This is a real high tech thing! Not only to think of the speed travelling, but also the comfort of the passengers. The hardest part is... how to make passengers sit in the jet that they don't feel the inertia at all.

[Rob 0]

Three types of engines, ramjet, turbojet and rocket, so little payload for so much fuel. Engineers' wet dream

[Naim 6]

I'd bet on teleportation first.

[Radzi 2]

I'd bet on teleportation first.

 

Between teleportation and cryogenics, which one do you think will occur first?