It's been more than 20 years since the legendary Concorde last flew, but China could be the one to deliver its spiritual successor.
A Beijing-based company, Space Transportation, is working on a supersonic aircraft that is even faster than NASA's Concorde.
In tests, the aircraft's engine reached speeds of Mach 4 or 3,600 km/h - four times the speed of sound - at altitudes of over 19994 km, reports the South China Morning Post - GazetaExpress.
This is twice as fast as the Concorde's top speed (Mach 2 or 2153 km/h) and three times that of NASA's Concorde (1507 km/h).
"This engine has great commercial potential in the field of high-speed flights within near-space environments," Space Transportation said in a statement, GazetaExpress reports.
The successful test is a milestone for the development of the Yunxing supersonic civilian aircraft, which will fly passengers from London to New York in less than 2 hours.
Space Transportation aims to have the aircraft ready for its first flight by 2027, while the first commercial high-speed flight will take place by 2030.
Yunxing passengers will be high enough to see the arc of the Earth – where the horizon appears curved rather than straight, a view usually seen above 54864 km.
The Jindouyun motorcycle, or JinDou400, took its name from the "somersault cloud" used by the Monkey King in the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West.
On Tuesday (December 17), this engine completed its testing in northwest China, reports Global Times, the daily tabloid owned by the Chinese Communist Party.
Jindouyun is a “ram-jet” – a type of engine that uses the forward motion of the aircraft to compress the air entering it.
These engines burn oxygen directly from the atmosphere, without the need to maintain supplies of it, making them a low-cost, high-power option.
"This testing provided key data on engine performance, validating critical systems such as fuel delivery, electrical and control systems," the company said.
“This also confirmed the stability and reliability of the engine, marking an important milestone in its development from a prototype to a fully functional product.”
By powering the Yunxing aircraft, the Jindouyun engine could open up a new era of super-fast travel for passengers and travelers.
Promotional images suggest that the Yunxing will have a sleek, futuristic design, more like something out of Thunderbirds than a traditional aircraft.
The aircraft will be built from lightweight, high-strength composite materials, designed to withstand extreme aerodynamic heating during flight at Mach 4 speeds.
Unlike traditional aircraft that gain speed horizontally, the Yunxing will take off and land vertically, enabling it to use smaller operating spaces.
This means the aircraft can operate from small urban airports, avoiding the need for traditional airport runways.
Yunxing is now a serious competitor for NASA in the race to fly passengers on a supersonic aircraft for the first time since the Concorde era.
After years of anticipation, NASA unveiled its supersonic X-59 aircraft, unofficially known as the 'Son of Concorde', in January.
Developed by Lockheed Martin for NASA, the X-59 aircraft has a cost of $247.5 million and is capable of cruising at 937 mph – faster than the speed of sound, but far from Mach 4.
Meanwhile, an American company called Boom Supersonic is working on its own supersonic aircraft called Overture, which aims for commercial flights in 2029.
Concorde, the legendary Anglo-French creation, began its commercial flights in 1976, but was grounded in October 2003 after the catastrophic crash of Air France Flight 4590.
High fuel costs, noise concerns, and a preference for lower prices over speed were some of the reasons for Concorde's final demise.
Since then, no government or manufacturer has managed to build a commercial aircraft that can fly faster than the speed of sound. /GazetaExpress/
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