Next Generation Supersonic Passenger Aircraft

The 21st century will become the age of supersonic passenger aircraft.



Sooner or later, travelers will use supersonic passenger jets just as they use the jumbo jets of today. What can we do to make this happen sooner?


This article introduces the research now underway at JAXA to make supersonic travel a new option for the commercial traveler.
 
If we travel faster than sound, we'll get to where we're going sooner.
Large passenger aircrafts such as the B (Boeing) 747, what we fondly call "jumbo jets," take us to destinations all over Japan and the rest of the world. Though fast and convenient, jumbo jets still take many hours to reach distant lands such as the United States and Europe. Travelers have no choice but to sit and wait, with nowhere to move their bodies. If we could fly at much higher speeds, the hours of in-flight confinement would be drastically reduced. Flying would be far more convenient and comfortable.

But engineers run into problems when they try to design aircrafts that travel faster than sound. The jumbo jets today normally fly slightly slower than the speed of sound. If an aircraft flew faster than sound, the shock waves from the aircraft would reach the ground and cause strong noises like thunder called a "sonic boom". The sonic boom by an aircraft as big as a jumbo jet would have enough power to cause damage on the ground. The windows of buildings might even shatter.

Some people say that we don't need to develop the speed of airliners, which is now fast enough. But flying at higher speeds has various advantages besides those we've already described. One, for example, is the possibility of reducing the incidence of "Economy-class syndrome." Economy-class syndrome is a perilous physical condition caused by sitting for long hours in the same posture in an airline seat. Victims suffer a blood clot in their legs and often have difficulty breathing. If the clot moves higher in the bloodstream, into the lungs or heart, death may even result. The name of the syndrome is actually misleading, as passengers in business class and first class sometimes experience the same thing. Airplane passengers can reduce the risk of economy-class syndrome simply by standing up and stretching their legs every few hours. Even so, shorter flying times might eliminate the risks altogether.
 
Article from JAXA.
Hillary Maruwa Jan 29, 2010