The new airplane will travel at Mach 5, five times the speed of sound, at 90,000ft
Boeing intend to build a hypersonic plane, capable of reaching speeds of Mach 5, that could fly from London to Sydney in less than six hours. Trips to New York would take less than an hour at that speed.
The Aviation firm released the first images of its new jet at the annual American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) conference in Atlanta, Georgia.
The speed of sound is 767 mph, and Boeing’s plane will travel at five times that speed, topping out at 3,900mph which is possible by cruising at a height of 90,000ft. An increase in altitude makes engines more efficient, but that height is still 30,000ft more than Concorde’s cruising altitude and 60,000ft higher than a conventional jumbo jet.
Boeing has said it will take “20 or 30 years” for the jet to begin flying but also insists that the technological advancement necessary is well within the realms of possibility.
Kevin Bowcutt, Boeing’s chief scientist of hypersonics, said: :We are excited about the potential of hypersonic technology to connect the world faster than ever before.
“Boeing is building upon a foundation of six decades of work designing, developing and flying experimental hypersonic vehicles, which makes us the right company to lead the effort in bringing this technology to market in the future.
“This aircraft would allow you to fly across the ocean and back in one day, which is all most people would want. So why go past those boundaries and complicate it? The world’s just not big enough to go much faster than Mach 5.”
