Could we really fly across the world in 2 hours? Well, you might have to wait another two years, but according to a successful test run conducted by US and Australian military, hypersonic travel is within reach and on track to launch in 2018 after its latest engine trial hit the target speed of Mach 7.5 – more than seven times the speed of sound.
That’s 5760 mph or 9269.821 km/h! Current commercial jet travel hits about 528 mph or 850 km/h and the now defunct Concorde flew at 1,354 mph or 2,180 km/h.The question remains though how economically viable a hypersonic engine would be, and whether it can work around the sonic boom issue. But if it does work, it means a 2-hour flight from London to Sydney could soon be a reality!
Luckily, there are plenty of scientists working on this very fact, with a concept design for the Antipode, which would make travelling from London to New York an historically short 11 minutes (at 12,427 mph), while Airbus has recently filed a patent for the Concorde 2 that could cross the Atlantic in an hour.
Come fly away, let’s fly away.
