SAE Powertrain & Energy - Prototype Issue - 20

Hypersonic possibilities
When it comes to reviving high-speed air travel, it all comes down to propulsion, propulsion, propulsion.

by Richard Gardner none of these projects has approached completion. Details emerged at the 2011 Paris Air Show about two new projects, aimed this time at far higher speeds, moving beyond transonic or low-supersonic performance into the realms of hypersonics—a far more radical technological leap into the future. As ever, the key to presenting these projects as viable concepts comes back to the issue of propulsion.

ver the decades, much research in the U.S., Europe, Russia, and Japan has been undertaken on aspects of ultra-high-speed flight, including radical airframe shapes, the use of unconventional materials, and ramjet and hybrid engines. Although Russia developed, and for a brief period in the late 1970s operated, its own Tu-144 supersonic air transport (and used it mostly as a high-speed freight carrier), only the AngloFrench Concorde resulted in scheduled-service supersonic passenger air traval. Work on follow-on supersonic air transports continued in the 1980s but none of it came to anything, as rising fuel prices and environmental concerns killed off enthusiasm for speed. The industry concentrated instead on making conventional aircraft that were quieter and less fuel-thirsty. As the 27-year operating career of Concorde drew to a finale, attention turned to the concept of small supersonic business jets, aimed at the premium VIP market. Dassault, Sukhoi, and Gulfstream all expressed the desire to develop such aircraft, and in more recent times Aerion appeared to have gained sufficient Middle East financial backing to actually build a flying supersonic business aircraft. But yet again the issues of sonic boom and lack of suitable engines stalled progress and
Coming Jan. 25, 2012

A SonicStar is born

U.K.-based company HyperMach Europe Aeronautics’ proposal for the market is an all-new 10-20 seat, Mach 3.5 business jet, the SonicStar, to be powered by an unconventional new engine design. The company has obtained initial support from the U.K. government to help it set up a global headquarters to arrange a partnership for commercial development and manufacture of a new engine,
SAE Powertrain & Energy

SAE Powertrain & Energy - Prototype Issue

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