Going to Los Angeles would be a darn sight more fun if you didn’t have to lock yourself in a flying aluminium tune of other people’s farts for a full half a day.
The long haul trip over the Pacific is a brutal slog at the best of times and can spit you out on the other side looking so haggard that your free passage through customs remains a constant mystery.
But while it might have been some 14-odd years since humans last boarded a supersonic passenger jet, a new technological development is not only set to cut the flight time to Hollywood in half, but all things being equal it could be up and running as soon as the early 2020s.
BOOM Supersonic has secured AU$43million in funding from a range of key wealthy tech and engineering backers to develop their XB-1 prototype; a supersonic passenger jet that could see you travel from Sydney to Los Angeles in just 6.45 hours.
The XB-1, which secured the funding a few days ago, will be able to make the trip from Tokyo to San Francisco in just on 5 hours. It’ll also be able to skip from New York over to London in a mere 3.15 hours.
The plane is designed to be at least 30% more efficient than the old Concorde planes which ceased commercial operation in 2003. Using new technologies and advanced materials, the XB-1 is touted to not only travel faster than the Concorde, but it would reduce the impact of the loud and cumbersome sonic boom created by the vessel breaking the sound barrier. The plane is also set to fly higher than the Concorde did, tipped to top out at an altitude of around 60,000ft.
Better still, seats on the projected passenger jet would only set you back about as much as a standard business class fare on a current air carrier, meaning it’s not totally out of reach of the average punter. The company also asserts that budget tickets on the jet are also a possibility.
This current round of funding for the aircraft reportedly comes from wealthy tech bosses, astronauts, and engineers, all of whom have a vested interest in seeing the project succeed.
BOOM Supersonic boss Blake Scholl confirmed the funding – which forms part of the projected AUD$262million price tag the prospective project carries – in an announcement a few days ago.
“Now we have all the pieces we need – technology, suppliers and capital – to go out and make some history and set some speed records.”
The project remains on-going.
Source: The Sun.
Photo: Tom Cooper/Getty.
