Airbus just patented a jet that could fly from London to New York in 1 hour (air)

Business Insider

Benjamin ZhangAugust 3, 2015

Last month, the US Patent and Trademark Office approved an application from Airbus' Marco Prampolini and Yohann Coraboeuf for an "ultra-rapid air vehicle and related method of aerial locomotion."

In other words, Airbus just patented a hypersonic jet.

Airbus expects the jet to reach speeds as high as Mach 4.5 — or 4 1/2 times the speed of sound.

According to PatentYogi's Deepak Gupta, this means the Airbus jet could make the trip from London to New York in just one hour. That's a significant improvement over the 3 1/2 hours it took for the now retired Mach 2 Concorde to make the same trip. The Concorde was a joint venture between Airbus' two predecessors, France's Aerospatiale and British Aerospace.

The hypersonic jet would also demolish the seven to eight hours it takes a conventional airliner, such as Airbus' own A330, to cross the Atlantic.

In addition, Airbus thinks the patented craft would be able to complete trips like Paris to San Francisco or Tokyo to Los Angeles in just three hours.

 

 

In the patent, Airbus describes the craft as "an air vehicle including a fuselage, a gothic delta wing distributed on either side of the fuselage, and a system of motors able to propel the air vehicle."

The jet is powered by three different types of engines that work in sequential order to get the craft aloft, into cruising altitude, and then up to its cruising speed of more than 3,000 mph.

To get off the ground, the craft will use two turbojets mounted under the fuselage as well as a rocket motor mounted in the rear. As the Airbus lifts off the runway, it will climb vertically like the Space Shuttle. Right before the jet reaches the speed of sound, the turbojets shut down and retract into the belly of plane — leaving only the rocket motor to guide it up to an altitude of more than 100,000 feet.

At cruising altitude, the rocket motor will shut down and retract into the fuselage. Then the plane's pair of wing-mounted ramjets take over and propel the aircraft to a top speed of Mach 4.5.

Airbus suggests it will be powered by various forms of hydrogen stored aboard the craft.

 

 

According to Airbus, much of the plane's aerodynamics are designed to limit and reduce the sonic boom it will create when it reaches supersonic speed. In the 1970s, the Concorde was beset by complaints of sonic booms and noise pollution created by its four Rolls-Royce Olympus turbojet engines. Consequently, it was prevented from operating over land.

 

As a result, the supersonic Anglo-French airliner was never able to become the financially viable mainstream passenger transport its creators had hoped for. Instead, the 14 production Concordes spent their 27-year career shuttling well-heeled VIPs across the Atlantic.

 

Airbus believes the hypersonic jet could have both civilian and military applications. In civilian trim, the craft could serve as private jet or as an airliner with room for 20 passengers. In military trim, the jet could serve as a hypersonic transport for commandos or as a reconnaissance plane like the SR71 Blackbird.

 

In addition, Airbus has also proposed a variant armed with high-power electromagnetic pulse weapons to conduct precision strikes on high-value targets.

As with most patented ideas, it's unlikely the jet will ever enter production. But technology derived from the hypersonic plane could make its way into Airbus' other less extreme products.

 

For more information on the Airbus jet, check out the full patent at the USPTO database or this video from PatentYogi:

 

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Source:

https://www.yahoo.com/autos/s/airbus-just-patented-jet-could-fly-london-york-163150545.html

Sounds like a fun patent.

 

I like the idea of how they're going to use hydrogen in a plane flying at Mach 4+ - I can't speak to the aerodynamics, but they certainly have a thermodynamics problem. The retractable engines should also be interesting from safety perspective. What happens if they fail to start/extend/retract?

 

Cheers!

 

Luke

What happens if they fail to start/extend/retract?

 

Luke

 

Luke, I was thinking the same thing.

> London to New York in 1 hour may be a reality someday <

 

Alternatively you can get to New York in seconds -right now ;-)

http://www.earthcam.com/network/?country=us&page=NY

 

Then back to London even quicker -since its all downhill ;-)

http://www.goandroam.com/webcams/uk/london/

Back in the 1970's all aircraft manufacturers had spectacular concepts which was great marketing. If this never gets off the ground it is also great marketing

Boeing also applied for a patent earlier this month to make an airplane go faster, I'll pass thank you.

 

- Here -  

Just don't stand behind the engine.

 

Cheers!

 

Luke

The PMDG FIG. 15

 

I'm looking forward to it already!

 

... ^_^

I doubt it will be realty they tried this with Concorde and people will complain about the noise in France and New York City.

I doubt it will be realty they tried this with Concorde and people will complain about the noise in France and New York City.

 

The sonic boom isn't an issue with this concept like the Concorde was, this is a different concept all explained in the article.

 

The challenge will be cost to build, certify and operate and if they can overcome all that this will be a novelty for the rich

The sonic boom isn't an issue with this concept like the Concorde was, this is a different concept all explained in the article.

 

The challenge will be cost to build, certify and operate and if they can overcome all that this will be a novelty for the rich

 

No, the challenge will be how to make it work. How does one expect to have cryogenic hydrogen a few millimeters away from an aircraft skin at several hundred degrees?

 

Cheers!

 

Luke

 

 

How does one expect to have cryogenic hydrogen a few millimeters away from an aircraft skin at several hundred degrees?

 

Duct Tape?

 

No, the challenge will be how to make it work. How does one expect to have cryogenic hydrogen a few millimeters away from an aircraft skin at several hundred degrees?

 

Cheers!

 

Luke

 

Foam? Like on the Shuttle ET?

Hah, imagine the flight crew on that... "Yeah, I'm doing an out and back across the Atlantic, be home in a few hours, honey."

Foam? Like on the Shuttle ET?

 

The insulation on the shuttle tank is to keep the contents frozen, not to mitigate kinetic heating at high speeds. The ET, on the way up, hits maximum dynamic pressure at around FL550 and Mach 2, and then it's pretty rapidly into vacuum. It's not able to withstand sustained heating - as evidenced by it burning up on the way down.

 

Cheers!

 

Luke