LVD COMMERCIAL SUPERSONIC FLIGHT

The past and the future /NASA

Contemporary world is all about going faster than ever before. Various communication technologies allow us to interact and trade almost instantly with the entire world. Computers are faster than ever before. One thing, however, has slowed down, the speed at which we travel. Supersonic travel is no longer possible. What was it like and where are we heading next?

TEXT Martijn van Moorselaar, Treasurer of Aviation Department, Student Engineering

AN ERA BYGONE it takes today, namely three and a half both Air France and British Airways an- Unlike today, traveling at supersonic hours. Its fastest crossing only took 2 hrs nounced that they would withdraw the speeds used to be possible not so long 52 min 59 sec, from New York to London. Concorde from service. On November 26, ago. Two supersonic passenger airlin- The Concorde not only ! ew faster than 2003, the Concorde made its last ! ight, ers used to be in commercial use, the any other current aircraft but also higher, marking the end of an era. Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde and the Tu- having a cruising altitude of 17,000m. polev Tu-144, with the Concorde being At these altitudes, the passengers could FIXING THE BOOM the much more successful one of the two. even experience looking at the curvature Today, the only supersonic aircraft are The Concorde has been in use for almost of the earth. Flying the Concorde was an military aircraft. For commercial ! ight, 27 years, predominantly by Air France and experience like no other, something very there is no longer an option to travel at British Airways. Although no longer in ser- few people experienced. It did, however, supersonic speeds. With the demise of the vice, the Concorde is still one of the most come at a price, since the average price for Concorde and as of yet, an un" lled gap iconic and well-known aircraft that have a round trip was upwards of $12,000 [van has been left. Research however is being ! own on the Earth. Featuring a very sleek der Linden, 2004]. done and supersonic travel might return. fuselage and its double delta shaped wings, it looks unlike any other passen- The beginning of the end of the Concorde Even though it is still seen as a marvel ger jet currently in use. The Concorde is was on July 25, 2000, when Air France of engineering, the Concorde had its almost always seen in a predominantly Flight 4590 crashed. Crashing just minutes share of problems. Its biggest problem white livery. The highly re! ective white after take-o# , killing everyone on board was the noise it produced, both in ! ight paint was used to prevent the aircraft and four more on the ground, Flight 4590 and on the ground. When taking o# , the from overheating when ! ying at super- was the " rst crash of a Concorde. Howev- Concorde was one of the loudest aircrafts sonic speeds. er, due to the fact that the Concorde ! ew a ever manufactured. A bigger problem lot less than any other aircraft, it immedi- however was the sonic boom it produced, Making its " rst commercial ! ight with ately had more fatal incidents per million which was so loud that the Concorde was British Airways on January 21, 1976 the ! ights than any other aircraft. After safety not allowed to ! y over land at supersonic Concorde was capable of transporting updates, the Concorde did return for com- speeds. This greatly restricted the amount 100 passengers at twice the speed of mercial usage in November 2001. Passen- of routes the aircraft could ! y, thereby sound. This allowed the aircraft to per- ger numbers however dropped, following reducing is usability. The Concorde was form transatlantic ! ights in half the time the crash and the 9/11 attacks. In 2003, also very expensive to ! y. It consumed

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British Airways has always claimed to have CORP. made a pro! t on the Concorde, it must be clear that any new design must overcome the noise and fuel consumption problems faced by the Concorde.

Currently a lot of research is being done on jets. Much of this research is focused on the reducing the noise produced by the sonic boom. As Peter Coen, supersonic projects manager at NASA’s Aeronautics Research Director- ate’s Fundamental Aeronautics Program, says “If we can’t solve the boom problem there is no sense working the other issues because the airlines won’t buy an aircraft they can’t " y wherever they want to " y” [Wilson, 2013]. Research is being done at, amongst others, NASA and Japan Aero- space Exploration Agency (JAXA).

Both for NASA and JAXA the sonic boom is periments already showing a much lower a very important issue. At JAXA, their cur- References rent project is the NEXST, National Experi- sound level than that of the Concorde. 1. HyperMach in talks with manufactur- mental Supersonic Transport. Launched THE FUTURE ers over supersonic jet, http://www. in 1997, the program is now in its second With a lot of research being done, it is time phase. The goals of the ! rst phase were corporatejetinvestor.com, Alex Andews, to look at what the future might bring 2013 to acquire design technologies to reduce for travellers wanting to travel at super- 2. My Ride on the Concorde, http:// drag when cruising at supersonic speeds. sonic speeds. One of the frontrunners of A scale model of the design was tested www.airspacemag.com, Robert van der bringing supersonic travel back is Aerion. Linden, 2004 in 2005 in Australia. The model, which Aerion is working on the Aerion SBJ, a su- 3. Race to be ! rst with ‘son of superson- did not have an engine, was accelerated personic business jet capable of carrying ic’, http://edition.cnn.com, Jones, 2011 to Mach 2.0 by a solid rocket booster. 8-12 passengers at Mach numbers up to Launched to an altitude of 19km, the 1.6. Although this seems futuristic, Aerion 4. Aerion corporate site, http://www. aerioncorp.com, Aerion, 2013 aircraft separated and " ew at Mach 2.0. expects the SBJ to be tested and in ser- The " ight test con! rmed that the design vice by the end of the decade. Another 5. Celebrating Concorde, http://www. reduced Aerodynamic drag. The second proposed future supersonic business jet britishairways.com, British Airways, 2013 phase of the program focuses on noise re- is the HyperMach SonicStar. With a cruis- 6. Beyond Concorde: The next genera- duction, while maintaining aerodynamic ing Mach number of 3.6, it can transport tion of supersonic " ight, http://edition. performance. Numerical simulations and 24 to 32 passengers at supersonic speeds. cnn.com, Hume, 2012 wind tunnel tests are being done to gain Announced in 2011 the SonicStar is ex- 7. The SST of the Future: Interview With a better understanding of how the sonic pected to " y in June 2024. Both the SJB NASA’s Peter Coen, http://www.defense- boom is related to the aircraft con! gura- and the SonicStar promise to produce less medianetwork.com, Wilson, 2013 tion. However, in reality the sonic boom is noise and be more fuel e# cient than the 8. Concorde Aircraft Facts, http://www. also in" uenced by the atmosphere, as Oh- Concorde. This would enable them to " y " ightlevel350.com, Flightlevel350, 2013 nuki, leader of the Supersonic Transport over land and to be economically viable. 9. Sonic Boom Heads for a Thump, Team at JAXA, also states. To address this Richard Lugg, CEO of HyperMach even http://www.nasa.gov, NASA, 2012 JAXA is planning a " ight test, which will boasts ‘The aircraft is six times faster than 10. For Flight Demonstration of Quiet hopefully be conducted in the mid 2010’s the Gulfstream G650 and you are still pay- Supersonic Aircraft Technology, http:// [Ohnuki, 2012]. ing less for fuel’ [Andrews 2013]. www.jaxa.jp, Ohnuki and Makino, 2012 11. Supersonic " ight inches closer to Alt NASA too a lot of research is being Boeing and Lockheed Martin together reality, http://www.independent.co.uk, done with the N+2 and N+3 programs. with NASA are also working upon larger Thomas Black, 2012 N+2 focuses upon an 80-passenger ve- supersonic aircraft. Both companies are hicle, traveling at supersonic speeds with working on aircrafts for NASA’s N+3 pro- transatlantic range, which should reach a gram. Although these aircraft would truly Aviation Department technology readiness level in 2025. The be a ‘Son of Concorde’, it will still be years The Aviation Department of the Society envisioned aircraft has to be able to op- before these aircraft reach the market, if of Aerospace Engineering Students ‘Leon- erate with an environmental impact on ever. ardo da Vinci’ ful! lls the needs of aviation par with that of current subsonic aircraft. enthousiasts by N+3 is a step further, reaching a tech- Although all concepts sound promising, organising activ- nology readiness level in 2035. The N+3 they still have to get o$ the shelf and into ities, like lectures aircraft is envisioned to be in the 100-to- the air, something the Concorde achieved and excursion in 200-passenger class and to have trans- 44 years ago. Only time will tell what is go- the Netherlands and abroad. paci! c range. For NASA the focus is also ing to happen, but for supersonic travel, upon reducing the sonic booms, with ex- the future seems promising.

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