Supersonic Air Travel May Soon Be a Reality

Supersonic travel isn’t here for the public to use… yet. However, NASA and a handful of private startups are exploring making supersonic travel a reality for the first time in almost 20 years. One of their goals is to make a quieter sonic boom, which is a lot easier said than done. In the last episode on supersonic flight, Julian explores the future of traveling faster than the speed of sound.

Watch the other episodes in this series:

Part 1 -    • What Makes a Sonic Boom So Loud?  

Part 2 -    • Why Aren’t We Still Flying Supersonic Plan...  

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One company, Spike Aerospace, is developing a jet that the vast majority of us will still never get to buckle into. They’re focused on making small private planes aimed at wealthy business executives. Another startup called Boom has a very different strategy. They’re developing a jet called the Overture that’s eerily reminiscent of the only commercially successful SST to date, the Concorde. Boom’s stated goal is to eventually offer flights anywhere in the world in under 4 hours for as little as 100 dollars a ticket.

Some big airlines have shown interest; United ordered 15 Overtures. But as the makers of Concorde will tell you, just because an airline has placed an order doesn’t mean they won’t change their mind and cancel later.

Even if these designs can get off the ground, there’s still a big problem they’ll have to overcome. Civil supersonic flights over the US are still banned because of that inescapable consequence of the physics of sound, the sonic boom. In the last few years though, engineers have been searching for a way to turn down the boom’s volume. Maybe if it’s quiet enough, people on the ground won’t mind it (or even notice it), and the FAA might lift its ban. That would open up transcontinental or long haul routes for SSTs, making them viable to buy and operate in bigger numbers and drive down overall costs.

One of the most promising hopes for quieter, faster-than-sound travel is being developed by NASA in collaboration with Lockheed Martin.

#Supersonic #Concorde #SonicBoom #Seeker #SeekerPlus

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Read More:

Supersonic Technologies
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/superson...
“The development of a new experimental plane called the X-59 QueSST—which stands for Quiet Supersonic Technology—is advancing as part of the Low-Boom Flight Demonstration mission. When the new X-plane arrives from Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company’s Skunk Works plant, Armstrong researchers will qualify and flight test it.”

Aviation companies are plotting the return of supersonic flight — and they think their jets will be better than the Concorde
https://www.businessinsider.com/aviat...
“Since the Concorde was retired in 2003, supersonic flight has been absent from the aviation industry. Fifteen years later, three startups and a major defense contractor are plotting its return.”

Boom Supersonic aims to fly 'anywhere in the world in four hours for $100'
http://edition.cnn.com/travel/article...
“Designed to seat between 65 and 88 people, Overture will focus on over 500 primarily transoceanic routes that will benefit from the aircraft's Mach-2.2 speeds -- more than twice as fast as today's subsonic commercial jets. A journey from New York to London would take just three hours and 15 minutes while Los Angeles to Sydney would be cut down to eight and a half hours.”

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