Hold onto your stomachs guys, because US manufacturer Boeing has revealed plans for a hypersonic plane that will get you from our sunburnt land to Europe in only 5 hours. FIVE HOURS. It’s currently about a 16-hour flight if you have a straight-shooting flight with no stopovers.
The catch is, in my super professional, super sciencey opinion, the look of the thing is absolutely terrifying. It’s like those carnival rides that you look at and just know with absolute certainty that the cheese-on-a-stick you just ate is going to end up back on your lap in partially digested form. Vomit guys, you’re going to vomit.
Boeing revealed the new aeroplane design at the 2018 American Institute of Aeronautics Aviation telling punters it has a travel speed of 6500km/h. That is 5 times faster than the speed of sound.
According to 9 News, Boeing chief hypersonic scientist Kevin Bowcutt told the crowd they’re pretty excited about this new revolution in global travel.
“We’re 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.“
After finishing our pair of talks at #AiaaAviation we’ve had a bit more of a chance to see the stands. @Boeing‘s hypersonic passenger jet is quite stunning! pic.twitter.com/BqmKAJvFik
— CADfix (@CADfix) June 27, 2018
While this design specifically is intended to carry passengers at top speeds, a statement from Boeing did leave room for the possibility of other hypersonic designs with commercial or military potential.
This is just one of several hypersonic vehicle concepts spanning a wide range of potential applications company engineers are studying.
This is obviously super exciting for people who love to travel (that’s got to be all of us right?) but don’t hold your breath. An exact timeline wasn’t given but it’ll be another 20 to 30 years. On the other hand, at least that’ll give you time to save for the ticket which, let’s face it, you probably almost definitely can’t afford.
