Oh, for the days when the seats were bigger, the food was tastier, and you could fly across the Atlantic in under three hours. Flying rapidly across the Atlantic has, of course, been a thing of the past since Concorde’s demise in 2003. Flights from London to New York take about eight hours, and flights from New York to London take about seven hours. The current record is slightly under five hours from New York to London, aided by a favourable jetstream.
An aircraft moving at Mach 4 might complete a transatlantic flight in as little as 90 minutes
However, the idea of supersonic travel has been revived – this time by NASA, which believes that a flight from New York to London might take as little as 90 minutes in the future. The space agency acknowledged in a blog post about its “high-speed strategy” that it had investigated whether commercial flights at up to Mach 4 – over 3,000 miles per hour – may take off in the future. According to NASA’s Glenn Research Center, there are already “potential passenger markets… in about 50 established routes.” Because certain countries, especially the United States, prohibit overland supersonic travel, these routes were limited to transoceanic ones.
However, as part of its Quesst program, NASA is constructing a “quiet” supersonic aircraft dubbed the X-59. The government expects that the new aircraft may eventually induce a change in existing laws, allowing aircraft to fly between Mach 2 and Mach 4 (1,535 – 3,045 miles per hour). The Concorde reached a top speed of Mach 2.04, or 1,354 miles per hour. An aircraft moving at Mach 4 might complete a transatlantic flight in as little as 90 minutes.
NASA’s Advanced Air Vehicles Program (AAV) will move on to the next phase of high-speed travel research
Following the studies, NASA’s Advanced Air Vehicles Program (AAV) will move on to the next phase of high-speed travel research, contracting companies to develop designs and “explore air travel possibilities, outline risks and challenges, and identify needed technologies to make Mach 2-plus travel a reality,” according to the agency. The research will be carried out by two teams, one led by Boeing and the other by Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems. Each will develop concepts for aircraft capable of flying at supersonic speeds.
According to Lori Ozoroski, project manager for NASA’s Commercial Supersonic Technology Project, similar studies to those being conducted currently affected the creation of the X-59 aircraft a decade ago. Similarly, she stated that the new research will “refresh those looks at technology roadmaps and identify additional research needs for a broader high-speed range.” According to Mary Jo Long-Davis, manager of NASA’s Hypersonic Technology Project, the next phase would also include “safety, efficiency, economic, and societal considerations,” adding that “it’s important to innovate responsibly.”
Lockheed Martin finished the construction of NASA’s X-59 test aircraft in July, which is aimed to reduce sonic booms to mere thumps with the hope of enabling overland supersonic flight. Ground tests and the first test flight are scheduled for later this year. NASA hopes to have sufficient data to give over to US officials by 2027.
