In the end we have a glider for
most of the trip as the fuel will hardly last beyond getting the craft up to
altitude and speed. It must be
supersonic at that altitude and likely flying at near mach 10, yet high enough
to avoid the worst effects of drag.
I really do not think we will see
something like this unless we have a pressing military need for this
capability. It is nice to dream.
Long before that perhaps we will
have an operational MFEV or magnetic field exclusion vessel able to loft up to
the altitudes involved for rapid flight.
Thirty years is along time in aircraft and physics.
I would rather see an effort made
to build an underground tunnel point to point which is then evacuated of air
allowing high velocity trains doing mach 10.
Tunneling has new materials available and could be sped up. At least an evacuated tunnel ends the problem
of air drag and related heat build up.
New rocketplane 'could fly Paris-Tokyo in 2.5 hours'
AFP – Sun, 19 Jun, 2011
A computer-generated image from the European defense group EADS shows
the so-called …
European aerospace giant EADS on Sunday unveiled its "Zero EmissionHypersonic Transportation"
(Zehst) rocket plane it hopes will be able to fly from Paris
to Tokyo
"I imagine the plane of the future to look like Zehst," EADS' chief
technical officer Jean Botti said as the project was announced at Le
Bourget airport the day before the start of the Paris International
Air Show.
The low-pollution plane to carry between 50 and 100 passengers will
take off using normal engines powered by biofuel made from seaweed
before switching on its rocket engines at altitude.
The rocket engines, powered by hydrogen and oxygen whose only
exhaust is water vapour, propel the plane to a cruising altitude of 32
kilometres (20 miles), compared to today's passenger jets which fly at around
10,000 metres.
"You don't pollute, you're in the stratosphere," Botti said.
To land, the pilot cuts the engines and glides down to Earth before
reigniting the regular engines before landing.
EADS hopes to have a prototype built by 2020 and for the plane to
eventually enter service around 2050.
The project is being developed in collaboration with Japan
A four-metre model of the plane, which looks similar to the now defunct
Concorde supersonic jet, will be on show at Bourget for the biannual aerospace
showcase which begins on Monday and opens to the general public on Friday.
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