Dreaming of the Hypersonic Commercial Flight

A trans-Atlantic journey of just sixty minutes has been promised since the dawn of supersonic flight, but is it now closer to reality?

The U.S. Air Force experimental scramjet, X-51A WaveRider. (Picture from: http://www.mirror.co.uk/)

The U.S. Air Force said, currently they are testing the WaveRider, a hypersonic experimental plane to fly in Mach-6 (3,600 mph or 5,795 kph), but it failed in the latest experiment on August 15, 2012.

The hypersonic jet WaveRider fails Mach-6 test, cause its engine was supposed to have ignited four seconds after it was released. (Picture from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/)

However, in late September, a secretive experimental vehicle roared into the clear blue skies above a military base deep within the Arctic Circle in Norway. As the sleek, rocket approached its target altitude of 350km (218 miles), it began to arc back to earth, gradually accelerating to so-called hypersonic speeds of up to Mach-8 (9,800 kph or 6,100 mph) achieved perfectly.

The test was the fifth of nine planned launches for the HIFiRE (Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation Program) vehicle, which its backers expert claim  "could be a major step forward in the quest for hypersonic flight", generally regarded as Mach-5 and above. At these speeds, headline writers like to say, we could soon be zipping from London to New York in just one hour.

It is a promise that is often repeated, about HIFiRE vehicle and others, such as the U.S. Air Force experimental aircraft, the X-51A WaveRider newly tested in August 2012. Digging back past history, we found the same promises when France and Russia to fly the Concorde aircraft, with a speed of only twice the speed of sound. However, the flight had to be stopped when it was discovered cracks on the fuselage due to fly at those speeds.

The delta wing aircraft fly at altitudes above 35 km in the Sweden sky. Currently American focuses to do test flight for their hypersonic experimental aircraft outside of the U.S. to ensure safety at Mach-8. (Picture from: http://www.aviationweek.com/)

In the pages of popular books, magazines, newspapers and comics, the hyperfast world of airline travel made on the horizon over 40,000 feet (12,192m). The old problems finally found a solution,  after the discovery of materials that resist air friction at high speeds of HIFiRE vehicle.

In his 1965 book Supersonic Transport, Irwin Stambler charts the progression of time it took to cross the Atlantic in history: from 350 hours on wooden ships to 120 hours on steam ships to 60 hours in dirigibles to 12 hours prop planes to 6 hours in planes of the very near future. The graph continues and projects forward to when the one hour barrier would be passed.

It could happen by increasing the speed beyond the normal boundaries and penetrate the speed of sound to an extent that can not be measured. The experts calculation result shows, speeds through a few times speed of sound can still reach up to speeds of Mach-8. The speed that can not be done in a regular plane flight before. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | BBC | AVIATION WEEKS | DEDI RISKOMAR | PIKIRAN RAKYAT 31012013]

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