Thu, Feb 07, 2008
A2 Would Hit Mach 5 Over Ocean
The European Union’s Long-Term Advanced Propulsion
Concepts and Technologies (LAPCAT) project has Mach 5 flight
potential within 25 years. Part of the EU’s research programs
developed in 2002, Reaction Engines Limited will be partially
funded for their work involving the hypersonic engine.
Conceptual design of the sleek A2 airliner proposes long
distance flights across continents and oceans -- which currently
take more than 20 hours -- would be reduced to less than five.
"The A2 is designed to leave Brussels international airport, fly
quietly and subsonically out into the north Atlantic at Mach 0.9
before reaching Mach 5 across the North Pole and heading over the
Pacific to Australia," LAPCAT chief Alan Bond told The Guardian
Daily.
The A2 plane is designed with the Scimitar engine in mind,
estimating a passenger load of 300 and distance capabilities of
20,000 km non-stop. The vehicle proposed is configured to attain
the appropriate supersonic lift/drag ratio currently set as
efficient standards for commercial operation. The propulsion
systems involved would protect the aircraft as it transitions from
take-off and subsonic continental speeds to the upwards of
hypersonic Mach 5 speeds.
According to Reaction Engines, their Scimitar powerplant is a
"precooled engine concept which exploits the unique thermodynamic
properties of liquid hydrogen."
Shifting away from jet fuel to use the thermodynamic properties
of liquid hydrogen means less of a carbon footprint, but more
research and development to make it happen.
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