The American company Boom Technology plans to create a more environmentally friendly version of the famous Concorde aircraft.
Boom Technology conducted the first flight test of a demonstrator version of the new XB-1 supersonic aircraft, which took place in the skies over California. This aircraft is the development that will allow the creation of a new supersonic passenger airliner designed for intercontinental flights, writes Gizmodo.
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The prototype of the future new supersonic passenger airliner called Overture, which will be more economical and environmentally friendly than the famous Concorde aircraft, completed all its tasks during its first flight.
The demonstrator, called the XB-1, which uses a carbon composite body, is powered by a conventional jet engine, but this allows it to fly at supersonic speeds. It is known that this aircraft can fly at speeds of up to 2100 km/h, which is 2 times faster than the speed of sound.
But the US Federal Aviation Administration prohibits aircraft from flying over the country at supersonic speed, so the plane showed more modest, but consistent results. During the test flight, the XB-1 rose to an altitude of 2170 meters and reached a speed of 439 km/h.
Based on this demonstration aircraft, Boom Technology plans to create a new supersonic passenger aircraft, Overture, which should be presented in a few years. Thus, the company again wants to bring back the movement of passengers between continents using supersonic flights.
We remind you that the supersonic passenger airliner Concorde made its last flight 21 years ago. Although it could fly passengers from the UK to the US in just 3 hours, such flights were very expensive and polluting. In addition, when flying over land, supersonic aircraft create a deafening roar, which is why such flights are prohibited in the United States.
The company Boom Technology is going to use environmentally friendly fuel in the supersonic aircraft Overture and promises that this 60-meter airliner will be able to carry up to 80 passengers on board. In this case, the speed of the aircraft should be approximately 2100 km/h, which is about 1.7 times higher than the speed of sound. For example, a flight from Europe to the USA on such a plane will take only about 5 hours, and a flight from America, for example, to South Korea will take only 8 hours. For comparison, a flight over the Atlantic now takes 8 hours, and over the Pacific Ocean – 12 hours.
At the same time, Boom Technology plans for the Overture aircraft to also fly between US cities, but given the existing ban, it is not yet clear how such permission will be achieved.
As I already wrote Focus, NASA's supersonic plane called the X-59 is set to make its maiden flight this year. With the help of this aircraft, scientists want to prove that new technologies can avoid the terrible rumble created by such aircraft when breaking the sound barrier. If this and further tests are successful, then perhaps Boom Technology will be able to realize its idea of supersonic flights over US territory.
Also Focus wrote that India had successfully tested its space plane. The USA and China have operational space planes, but India will soon have the same one, because for now it is only a prototype.
Let us remind you that for the first time physicists accurately measured the position of atoms in three dimensions. Scientists have used a new method to study the arrangement of individual atoms using a quantum microscope, as already written Focus.