NASA is one step closer to supersonic passenger flights

Amaya Sun

(CNN) Ah, in the good old days of travel, when the seats were bigger, the food was better, and you could cross the Atlantic in less than three hours.

Since the end of the Concorde in 2003, speeding across the Atlantic has been a thing of the past. Flights between London and New York take about eight hours, or about seven hours the other way. The record is currently just under five hours from New York to London, spurred by a favorable current.

But now the idea of ​​supersonic travel has been mooted again, by NASA, which estimates that the flight between New York and London could last no longer than 90 minutes in the future.

In a blog post about its “high-speed strategy,” the space agency confirmed that it recently studied whether commercial flights of up to Mach 4 (more than 3,000 mph) could take off in the future.

The NASA Glenn Research Center study indicated that there are already “potential passenger markets…on about 50 identified routes.” These routes have been limited to crossing oceans, including across the North Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, because countries such as the United States prohibit supersonic flight over land.

However, NASA is developing a “quiet” supersonic aircraft, called the X-59, as part of the Questt mission. The agency hopes the new aircraft will eventually change these rules, paving the way for planes flying between Mach 2 and Mach 4 (2,470-4,914 kph). The Concorde’s top speed was Mach 2.04, or 2,179 kilometers per hour. A plane traveling at Mach 4 can cross the Atlantic Ocean in just 90 minutes.

After the studies, NASA’s Advanced Air Vehicle (AAV) program will now move into its next phase of research into high-speed travel, contracting with companies to develop designs and “explore air travel possibilities, identify risks and challenges, and identify needed technologies.” “To make the speed of Mach 2 – in addition, travel has become a reality,” the agency said. There will be two teams working on the investigation: one headed by Boeing and one headed by Northrop Grumman Aeronautical Systems. Each of them will propose aircraft designs capable of maintaining supersonic speeds.

NASA’s X-59 aims to reduce sonic boom to a high level. (Lockheed Martin)

A fast-moving future

Studies similar to those conducted now and conducted a decade ago shaped the development of the X-59, according to Lori Ozoroski, project manager for NASA’s Commercial Supersonic Technology Project. Likewise, he added, the new studies will “refresh those ideas about technology roadmaps and identify additional research needs for a wide range of high-speed.”

The next phase will also take into account “safety, efficiency, and economic and social considerations,” said Mary Jo Long Davis, NASA’s hypersonic project manager, adding that “it’s important to innovate responsibly.”

In July, Lockheed Martin completed construction of NASA’s X-59 test aircraft, which was designed to turn a sonic boom into a mere bump, in hopes of making supersonic flight over Earth possible. Ground tests and the first test flight are scheduled for the end of the year. NASA aims to have enough data to turn it over to US regulators by 2027.

CNN Wire
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