Commercial supersonic aircraft could be making a comeback as many companies are trying to open up a new frontier in high speed travel. In today’s world, while you can pay to travel in incredible luxury, you can’t arrive at your destination any faster than someone sitting at the back of the plane. This makes the comeback of supersonic jets that much interesting and important. Boom Technology has recently revealed its XB-1 supersonic aircraft that is going to take a test flight during 2021. At the moment, the COVID-19 pandemic has created a vicious downturn for the aerospace industry. The slump in passenger numbers has caused many Airlines to cancel and delay orders. With an uncertainty around air travel returning back to normal, the supersonic jets might provide an alternative to those who are looking for the luxury of reduced travel time.
The supersonic speed range is that range of speeds within which all of the airflow over an aircraft is supersonic, exceeding the speed of sound (Mach 1). The supersonic speed range starts at greater than Mach 1.2 to 5.0. Here is a breakdown of what Supersonic speed means in terms of numbers:
| Speed | Mach | knots | mph | km/h |
| Supersonic | 1.2–5.0 | 794-3,308 | 915-3,806 | 1,470–6,126 |
|---|
In the late 20th century, the Concorde commercial supersonic jet operated mainly in North Atlantic with flights from Paris and London to New York and Washington. The Concorde supersonic jets has travelling speed of 1350 miles per hour, which is twice the speed of sound. Sir James Hamilton lead the development of Concorde as the delta wings were famously designed him. The tilted nose and long ultra thin body gave a distinctive appearance to the Concorde. The Concorde took more than 30 years to develop and it was an incredible aircraft that was well ahead of its time. Without computers, the developers used thousands of hand drawings to design each part of the aircraft.
There were three main criticisms of the Concorde, as the aircraft was too elitist, too expensive and much too noisy. It was an economical problem more than a technological problem. Mainly because of expensive fuel cost and very long maintenance time (almost 22 hours for every hour in the air), enough consumers were not able to afford a flight on the Concorde. The cooling mechanism of the Concorde required specialized maintenance crew to manage the plane’s high speed temperatures. Lastly, the prospects of success were reduced after many countries banned Concorde’s overland routes due to the thunder like noise (a Boom that resulted from breaking the sound barrier) as it could be heard from the ground. By the fall of 2003, the transatlantic service was retired by Air France and British Airways as the service struggled to make a profit.
After more than a decade, even with advancement of the technology, we still don’t have another supersonic jet. You might be wondering, if the technology was not the problem then what is the hold up on supersonic planes that has taken so long to make a come back. The interest in supersonic aircraft technology has not disappeared according to Federal Aviation Administration. Today, companies are either using Private Planes or Commercial Airliners as a pathway to go beyond the speed of sound.
Spike aerospace is working on private supersonic jets and claims that the new design has reduced the sonic boom to a sound of car door closing. The Spike Aerospace aircraft, S-512, has a long pointy nose to help bounce the shock wave towards space instead of the ground. In addition, to control the pressure waves, Spike has narrowed Concorde’s famous delta wing to crank delta wing. In order to deal with Concorde’s temperature issues, Spike has built the aircraft using composite materials that are lighter than aluminum and capable of tolerating higher temperatures. To reduce the development time, Spike is modifying an existing engine instead of building one from scratch, this results in slower speed (1100 mph) than Concorde (1350 mph), which allows the aircraft to manage temperature, sonic boom, and engine efficiency while still going beyond the speed of sound.
With backing from Boeing, Airbus and GE Aviation, Aerion supersonic is currently working on supersonic passenger jet, the AS2, geared towards business travellers. With Safran, Spirit Aerosystems and Honeywell part of the project, the AS2 is definitely one of top contenders. Aerion is hoping to fly overland at Mach 1.4 speed, which is expected to generate a low supersonic boom.
On the other hand, Boom Technology is working on building a larger supersonic passenger jet. The Boom Technology is mainly focusing on overseas travel and they are mainly focusing on speed and not on sonic boom. The Boom Technology has reshaped the delta wing and optimized propulsion to create an aircraft that will be no louder than regular aircrafts. It uses the concept of aerial ruling that keeps the distribution of cross-sectional area continuous and smooth from tip to tail, so it is hard to find any straight line on the aircraft. As of right now, no company working on supersonic aircrafts has conducted a test flight. The companies are testing traditional wind tunnel tests and flight simulators Next year in 2021, Boom is aiming to be the first company to carry out a test flight using its supersonic Jet XB-1. The Boom’s XB-1 aircraft would travel at twice the speed of sound and could send passengers from New York to London in just 3 hours and 15 minutes. However, it would not be cheap as one ticket would cost $2500 one way.
In partnership with NASA, Lockheed Martin is working on X-59 supersonic jet technology for passenger air travel, which is a project to support future supersonic airframe builders. Virgin Galactic is also working on a Supersonic Jet capable of flying at Mach 3.0, which is roughly double the speed of the Concorde. The company has only finished a concept review with NASA but it is confident to move forward to further development. Airbus has recently
Boeing, Airbus, and Lockheed Martin are at various stages of development to bring the supersonic passenger aircraft back in use. The supersonic jets are expected to be delivered by 2025 and the general public will be able to fly on a supersonic jet by 2030s. The supersonic jets hold a great potential to reshape the future of travel but only time will tell what the future will look like and how fast we will get there.
Source: BBC, Simple Flying
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