12/9/2023 0 Comments Boom aircraft![]() That’s the image people have in their mind,” says Murphy. “Concorde was famously loud and dirty, afterburning military-derived engines that produced a lot of particulate matter. Overture’s propulsion is based entirely around SAF, with Murphy and his team all too aware that the aircraft’s green credentials are vital to the project winning favour. SAF can also be mixed in a 50/50 ratio with regular aviation fuel to partially decarbonise the airline fleets operating right now. It can be made by recycling waste materials from landfill and food production, or produced synthetically by carbon capture from the air. SAF is seen as the most viable route to reduce the carbon footprint of aviation and can cut a plane’s lifetime carbon dioxide emissions by 80 per cent. “We can build on Concorde’s legacy with nearly 60 years of advancement in aerodynamics, materials and propulsion systems,” Murphy says, “with the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) enabling the return of supersonic travel in an economical and environmentally sustainable manner.” The XB-1, due for its first test flight later this year, is blazing a trail for the next-generation of supersonic passenger aircraft - Image credit: Boom Supersonic “But it was a nationalistic project that hadn’t been built around a viable economical model.”īoom is an American company aiming to fly passengers supersonically by the end of the decade on its new Overture aircraft. “Concorde was a technical marvel and well ahead of its time,” says Ben Murphy, vice president of Sustainability at Boom. Supersonic travel looks to be on its way back, though, and in a cheaper, cleaner and quieter form. Many still mourn the distinctive, dart-shaped aircraft’s loss, deeming its costly tickets, urgent fuel use and thunderous sonic booms when it breached the sound barrier as acceptable prices to pay for being propelled across the Atlantic at Mach 2 (over 1,500mph or 2,400km/h). And with it, a lengthy pause on regular, paying airline passengers (albeit those with healthy bank accounts) travelling faster than the speed of sound – 343 metres per second, or 761mph (1,224km/h). November will mark the 20th anniversary of Concorde’s retirement. Supersonic passenger flights are making an unlikely return.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |