Since Concorde was retired, the world has been without a supersonic passenger jet. But that could soon change with the unveiling of the SonicStar. Designed by HyperMach, the supersonic plane is so quick it could make a flight from London to New York in two hours!
Capable of supersonic flight at a speed of Mach 3.5. SonicStar “tackles the combined requirements of speed, reduced emissions and low overland noise, effectively ushering in a new dawn in aviation history.”
The British design firm believes that the 20-seat plane will be capable of such speeds thanks to its S-MAGJET hybrid gas turbine engine technology. With its low fuel consumption, Richard Lugg, HyperMach’s chief executive, says that the Sonic Star “overcomes the economic and environmental challenges of supersonic flight to revolutionise the way we travel and drive air transportation forward into the future.”
“Mankind has always been inspired to do things better, quicker and faster and that is our ambition.”
HyperMach plans to build its engine by the end of the decade and hopes to have the plane itself constructed by 2025. In keeping with modern thinking, it will also reduce emissions dramatically.
By generating massive amounts of electrical power, the SonicStar uses proprietary integrated turbine electromagnetic generation technology to segment each engine rotating component stage electrically. This segmentation will enable the engine to change the operating speeds of its rotating components continually throughout the flight, in order to respond to the changing conditions of the atmosphere and the flight and performance demands of the aircraft.
HyperMach claims that this will result in a 40 to 50 percent increase in the ability of the engine to convert fuel to thrust. As such, fuel efficiency would ultimately lead to a 30 to 35 per cent reduction in fuel used at supersonic speeds.
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