One of humankind’s greatest pursuits has been to move from place to place as expediently as possible.
The endeavour has spanned centuries and has involved all modes of transport from boats to trains, cars and planes – and now the next step forward could be hypersonic travel.
Back in the 70’s we were given what was slated as the future of air travel, Concorde, the supersonic airliner that could fly from New York to London in just under three hours.
The aircraft was eventually phased out due to high running costs as well as it the incredible noise it would make, with sonic booms able to be heard miles away.
So, after Concorde’s departure, we went back to subsonic airliners which could provide more seats at a cheaper price due to better fuel economy.
In recent years there have been rumours of a supersonic renaissance, with the likes of Boom Technology designing a new supersonic passenger jet of which they tested a scaled-down version of the plane earlier this year.
However, there is a new competitor in the market not just promising supersonic flight, but hypersonic.
This wild new plan comes from start up engineering company Venus Aerospace who have unveiled an engine they claim can achieve hypersonic flight.
You can watch a preview of the aircraft below:
Hypersonic flight, for those of you not versed in aerospace engineering, is a speed five times faster than the minimum speed required to go supersonic, 767 mph at sea level.
This would mean going Mach 5 or 3,800mph at sea level which is almost three times faster than Concorde which flew at Mach 2 or 1,350mph at sea level.
The engine has been dubbed the somewhat contentious ‘Venus Detonation Ramjet 2000 lb Thrust Engine’ – the word detonation may not exactly fill nervous flyers with confidence.
Shortened to the ‘VDR2’ the engine can allegedly power a plane up to speeds of Mach 6 which translates as very very fast.
At this speed, this hypersonic jet could travel from London to New York in under an hour – speedy!
The company say they intend on running its first test flight next year in cooperation with another aerospace company Velontra, with the goal of ‘unlocking the high-speed flight economy’ for both commercial and defence aircraft.
Similarly to Concorde which flew at 60,000 feet, the plane will fly at a much higher altitude than traditional aircraft using jet engines to take off and then switching to rockets once at a high enough altitude.
Although still just a fraction of the way to space, it will be possibly to see the curvature of the earth and the blackness of space above the horizon.
Upon revealing the news, Venus Aerospace co-founder Andrew Duggleby said: “This engine makes the hypersonic economy a reality. We are excited to partner with Velontra to achieve this revolution in high speed flight, given their expertise in high-speed air combustion.”
Eric Briggs, Velontra’s Chief Operating Officer, said: “We can’t wait to dig in, make the first one fly, and ultimately perfect an engine concept that has lived mostly in textbooks but never as a production unit in the air.
“We couldn’t think of a better partner than Venus. Rocketry pioneers in their own right, and ready to tackle the hard problems, we are eager to fly the same path with them.”
Venus and Velontra are not the only companies looking to crack hypersonic flight with Sierra Space and Hermeus among those looking to make the breakthrough, while Chinese company Space Transportation want to “put a rocket on wings for inter-city travel”.
While humans have made objects fly hypersonic before, it has mostly been for the means of defence and destruction in the form of hypersonic missiles as well as military jets that have achieved the feat.
While of course rockets have long excelled these speeds.
However, this new aircraft would become the first commercial jet to ever fly hypersonic and it could be here sooner than lighter with the company aiming for a release in the 2030s.
Related: Flood simulations show how high storm surge from Hurricane Milton could get
