The American company Aerion has been working on supersonic aircraft projects for several years. His idea: to be able to travel all over the world in less than three hours. The company recently introduced the device that could turn dreams into reality.
Twice as fast as the Concorde: this is the speed that the American aircraft manufacturer Aerion Corporation intends to achieve. The company, which first worked on creating supersonic business flights, with the AS2 aircraft model, is now tackling long-haul aircraft. With a crazy goal in mind: to create a device capable of crossing the Atlantic Ocean in an hour, to link New York to London.
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Twice as fast as the Concorde
Aerion’s promise: to create an aircraft intended for commercial flights, with a capacity of 50 passengers, all at a speed that can reach speeds ranging from Mach 3 to Mach 5. That is approximately 3,700 km / h at 6 100 km / h. Almost seven times faster than a traditional long distance flight. The cruising speed of the Concorde, whose commercial flights extended from 1976 to 2003, was Mach 2, or 2,145 km / h.
On March 29, 2021, the company unveiled the device that could make this ambitious project a reality: the Aerion AS3. “We want to build a future where humanity can travel between any point on our planet in less than three hours”, explains Aerion CEO Tom Vice, in a press release.
The AS3 was born from the positive results of a previous model, the AS2, a supersonic business flight prototype, whose production is due to start in 2023, and whose commercialization is expected in 2026. The first flight, on the other hand, is scheduled for 2024.
This first plane, which can accommodate 8 to 12 passengers, promises to connect New York to London in 4 hours 30. A first objective which pushes the CEO to “Pushing back the limits of the possible”, for “Truly revolutionizing global mobility”. And for that, the company recently joined forces with a major ally to achieve its goals: Nasa, the American space agency.
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Read also: The plans for supersonic civil planes are multiplying in the United States.
What impact on the environment?
Wanting to do better than the Concorde is ambitious, but requires taking some precautions. One of the arguments that led to the abandonment of the French aircraft in 2003 was in particular that of the disastrous environmental impact of the aircraft. “The Concorde was a brilliant piece of equipment, but it produced too many CO emissions2 for the environment, too much noise in our communities, and its operation was too expensive ”, explained Tom Vice to CNN Travel in 2020.
Aerion’s various supersonic aircraft projects would use fuels in particular “100% synthetic”, but also air capture technologies to reduce CO emissions2.
Engineers are also working to solve the sound problem of devices, using technology to prevent noise when hitting the sound barrier, says Forbes . “We believe we have solved this problem, specifies the CEO to CNN. Our plane is going to be as quiet as the other planes around airports. “
It remains to be seen when the device can be produced and marketed. Other companies are also busy finding a successor to the Concorde, such as the American companies Boom and Virgin Galactic.
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