[lvlshot]https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-ima ... bda2b72613[/lvlshot]Supersonics are back. Around the world, aerospace companies and organisations, including Nasa, are developing the technology that will allow passengers once again to fly at faster than the speed of sound. The first of this new breed of aircraft could be flying early in the 2020s.
It was way back in 2003 that Concorde was retired. The airliner entered service in 1976 but was hobbled by complaints that it was too loud. As a result, it could only break the sound barrier when flying over the ocean. This restricted its operation and turned it into a niche aircraft operated only by British Airways and Air France on transatlantic flights.
“The technology simply did not exist to create a new generation of practical and efficient supersonic airliners,” says Doug Nichols, CEO of Aerion, an aviation company in the vanguard of the revival. Now, however, technology has advanced and companies smell profits.
See and read more about the other aircraft in the works at:Lockheed Martin N+2.
This is a conceptual design for an 80-seater airliner. Its shape reduces the noise of the sonic boom from a sharp crack to a distant thump, making it acceptable for use over land. A model has been tested in wind tunnel trials and software has been developed to predict the volume of the sonic boom from the shape of the design. “The tools we’ve put in place really open up future opportunities,” says Michael Buonanno, Lockheed Martin manager of the Nasa N+2 programme.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/o ... l-concorde
