News Aeronautics : EADS unveils a new hypersonic plane project

[N_Molson]

EADS unveiled a new hypersonic plane project at the "Le Bourget" airshow. :speakcool:

It will use "conventional" jet engines using bioethanol to takeoff, engage LOX/LH2 rocket engines (3x), climb to 32 kilometers, then engage O2/LH2 ramjets engine pods. The descent will be glided, the bioethanol engines being restarted for landing. :jj:

It would be able to join Paris-New York in 1h30. Planned price of the seat : same as it was on the Concorde.

First commercial flight scheduled for 2050.

Needless to say, that would make an awesome addon for Orbiter

 

[Artlav]

First commercial flight scheduled for 2050.

Then why do they present the idea now?
Also, why not build one about now?
What technology don't we have?

 

[N_Molson]

I'd say : costs. The technology is available today but at an experimental level. Also, the rocket engines would have to be able to perform several flights before a checkup, not like the Space Shuttle. Infrastructures also. No airports have (L?)H2 or bioethanol refuelling structures.

 

[Urwumpe]

Because they don't plan to finish it, it is just a technology project.

 

[N_Molson]

New rocketplane 'could fly Paris-Tokyo in 2.5 hours'

(AFP) – 5 hours ago

PARIS — European aerospace giant EADS on Sunday unveiled its "Zero Emission Hypersonic Transportation" (Zehst) rocket plane it hopes will be able to fly from Paris to Tokyo in 2.5 hours by around 2050.

"I imagine the plane of the future to look like Zehst," EADS' chief technical officer Jean Botti said as the project was announced at Le Bourget airport the day before the start of the Paris International Air Show.

The low-pollution plane to carry between 50 and 100 passengers will take off using normal engines powered by biofuel made from seaweed before switching on its rocket engines at altitude.

The rocket engines, powered by hydrogen and oxygen whose only exhaust is water vapour, propel the plane to a cruising altitude of 32 kilometres (20 miles), compared to today's passenger jets which fly at around 10,000 metres.

"You don't pollute, you're in the stratosphere," Botti said.

To land, the pilot cuts the engines and glides down to Earth before reigniting the regular engines before landing.

EADS hopes to have a prototype built by 2020 and for the plane to eventually enter service around 2050.

The project is being developed in collaboration with Japan and uses technology that is already available.

A four-metre model of the plane, which looks similar to the now defunct Concorde supersonic jet, will be on show at Bourget for the biannual aerospace showcase which begins on Monday and opens to the general public on Friday.

 

[Urwumpe]

"You don't pollute, you're in the stratosphere," Botti said.

:facepalm:

 

[Notebook]

Don't understand that, won't it compete withits own LAPCAT?

http://www.reactionengines.co.uk/lapcat.html

N.

 

[Urwumpe]

Don't understand that, won't it compete withits own LAPCAT?

http://www.reactionengines.co.uk/lapcat.html

N.

LAPCAT is an ESA study, not an EADS study... possibly that the EADS design is even placed into the ring as possible LAPCAT competitor, so EADS can suck some more ESA funds into their budget.

But I personally think, this design like EADS presented it, is a nice way to gather attention, but won't fly anywhere. Alone having three different types of engines in a single plane is insane. And a rocket engine on a passenger plane is not really what I call best practice.

 

[Notebook]

Seems a bit complex, and I don't mind paying for Skylon or LAPCAT, not both.

I see President Lincon has booked his seat.

N.

 

[Ghostrider]

Yeah, it's all fun and games until some commercial rocket blows up on the plane's trajectory, the debris cut into the controls and your hypersonic plane ends up in orbit with Lee Majors trying to get it down, only this time we have no Space Shuttle ready for 3-hours turnovers and secret spacecraft out of the blue to Deus Ex Machina the finale.

 

[N_Molson]

Altitude bug !

Watching closely, there's a nasty bug in the altitude display of the video :lol:

 

[Artlav]

So, rocket planes.
Let's see how it will fail:
-Decompression: All passengers dead as there is no way to go down quick enough.
-Airframe damage: Everyone is dead, it would shred into pieces quickly.
-O2 tank leak: Kaboom.
-Rocket engine failure: Kaboom.
-Birdstrike: The usual.
-Crash landing: Oxygen-fuelled inferno
-Maintenance errors: Three times more likely.
-Terrorists on board: See decompression
-Careful terrorists on board: The usual, it will disintegrate at high speed low enough to hit anything.
-Biodiesel fuel: Rabid ecosphere depletion, food shortages.

I'd rather see a lot of cheap aircraft that fly people comfortably (Leg space! Horizontal option! No unnatural delays! No excessive security!) at regular speeds and regular price.

Why else would you like to hurry at supersonic speeds other than to leave the damn cramped plane?

 

[N_Molson]

Horses are safe, too... Our feets even more... :dry:

+ the H2 tank is supposed to be empty at landing, and venting it into the atmosphere in case of emergency isn't a problem.

 

[Ark]

First commercial flight scheduled for 2050.

:lol:

This will never happen. Just another paper bird.

---------- Post added at 01:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:34 PM ----------

Yeah, it's all fun and games until some commercial rocket blows up on the plane's trajectory, the debris cut into the controls and your hypersonic plane ends up in orbit with Lee Majors trying to get it down, only this time we have no Space Shuttle ready for 3-hours turnovers and secret spacecraft out of the blue to Deus Ex Machina the finale.

You're going to have to tell me what that reference was from. :lol:

 

[Moach]

i think the world is starting to really miss the Concorde.... (as was expected)

and what a thing, if someone would have had the heart to bring that beautiful plane up to code with current tech (say, a glass cockpit, more efficient engines, composite airframe) - it's descendant could very well be flying by now...

but money speaks loudest, i guess... so instead of a Concorde-200, we now have to bear with the fact that a few decades ago, i took 3 hours from NY to London... and now it takes 8... :facepalm:


my point here is - i find it hard to take it as a good idea to strap a rocket onto a plane like that... rockets are REALLY, REALLY non-economic, and maintenance costs on that thing would be towering, even if compared to the Concorde, which was not for the shallow-pocketed to begin with :hmm:

i say, if shortening travel time IS a must-have, (and there's still a large margin for questioning on that) - then a Concorde-Reloaded type deal would be a much safer investment IMHO :thumbup:

i's advise that you don't need to go for mach 8.... for a passenger airliner, mach 2~3 does the trick quite well, and doesn't impose half of the technical overhead...

i found that flying the G42-200 (fully loaded, tanks topped for orbit insertion) through it's famous plane-alignment leg, it outperforms itself at mach 2.5 - it can fly a steady cruise with 40% engine power, where it would require 60% or more to do the so at subsonics or a higher mach number - with the same loadout mass...
of course, it has that whole waverider thing i took from the XB-70...

anyways, i digress.... what was i saying?

ah yes, my point is, rocketplane bad, Concorde-2 good

 

[C3PO]

-Birdstrike: The usual.

Ouch!!!

At 32 km alt/MACH 4 the bird's oxygen supply is going to do major damage. :rofl:

 

[Artlav]

the H2 tank is supposed to be empty at landing

Ouch!!!

At 32 km alt/MACH 4 the bird's oxygen supply is going to do major damage. :rofl:

Birdstrike at take-off -> crash landing with full fuel tanks -> Inferno.

 

[N_Molson]

-> Anti-birds flak guns :lol:

 

[Urwumpe]

-> Anti-birds flak guns :lol:

-> Avian flak vests.

 

[Artlav]

-> Anti-birds flak guns :lol:

-> Send the passengers by train, fly the plane empty, put passengers back on board. Ultimate safety!