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.