NASA says it’s got the secret to quiet supersonic planes. Now comes the hard part
For almost a half-century there’s been a clear speed limit on most commercial air travel: 660 miles per hour, the rate at which a typical-size plane traveling at 30,000 feet breaks the sound barrier and creates a 30-mile-wide, continuous sonic boom. The ground-level disturbances that result— shattered windows, cracked plaster, maddened farm animals—have kept supersonic travel mostly off-limits since 1973, when the Federal Aviation Administration banned its use over U.S. soil.
That may be changing. In August, NASA says, it will begin taking bids for construction of a demo model of a plane able to reduce the sonic boom to something like the hum you’d hear inside a Mercedes-Benz on the interstate. The agency’s researchers say their design, a smaller-scale model of which was successfully tested in a wind tunnel at the end of June, should cut the six-hour flight time from New York to Los Angeles in half. NASA proposes spending $390 million over five years to build the demo plane and test it over populated areas. The first year of funding is included in President Trump’s 2018 budget proposal.
Bu hikaye Bloomberg Businessweek dergisinin July 31, 2017 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye Bloomberg Businessweek dergisinin July 31, 2017 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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