Hypersonic jet could slash flights from hours to minutes

by Steven Mostyn - Jun 20 2011, 10:10

The one seemingly unavoidable but necessary evil associated with air travel—claustrophobia not withstanding—is that long-haul flights to far-flung destinations can often feel like they take forever.

However, that may soon change following the unveiling in Paris of a “rocket plane” that could slash flight times thanks to hypersonic speed capabilities of around 3,000mph.

Although presently little more than an ambitious seed of an idea, the Zero Emission Hypersonic Transportation jet (a.k.a. ZEHST) would whiz along 20 miles above the planet’s surface, cutting even the lengthiest flight down to just a few hours.

In terms of potential effect on existing travel times, the jet could carry passengers from Europe to New York in a little less than an hour, while destinations in and around Europe could be reached in a matter of minutes.

Current time-sink journeys to places such as Japan and Australia (approx. 11 hours and 24 hours respectively) could be reduced to two and a half hours and three and a half hours.

Relying on biofuel-powered engines to initially get off the ground, the ZEHST will then apparently switch to rockets once it reaches the Earth’s stratosphere. Upon arriving at its destination, the plane will execute a glide descent before restarting its engines ahead of landing. 

Adding yet more appeal to the futuristic passenger vehicle, the ZEHST airliner’s rockets will be powered by a combination of oxygen and hydrogen, which means it will be leaving nothing but water vapour in its wake.

Described as “the plane of the future” by Jean Botti of the European Space Agency, the ZEHST is unfortunately unlikely to ready for service (if it even makes it off the design table) for another 40 years.

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