An ultra-fast space plane, developed by the Chinese startup Space Transportation, will be able to take passengers to any point on Earth by going into space and returning again— as soon as 2025.
The hypersonic plane aims to revolutionize the aviation industry, promising to fly into the atmosphere at more than 5 times the speed of sound, or about 6000 km/h.
“Imagine, in less than 2 hours, we can fly from the Eastern Hemisphere to the Western Hemisphere. This may be the next generation of aircraft that will have a major impact on global passenger transport and logistics. There are very few teams capable of developing high-speed aircraft,” the company said about the space plane in a press release.
Are you ready to blast from one end of the Earth to the other in record times? Here’s what we know about Space Transportation’s Hypersonic space plane so far.
1. London to New York in about an hour
The plane’s top speed of 2,671 miles per hour, which means it can travel at twice the speed of Concorde.
Passengers could get from London to New York in about an hour. Currently, the total flight duration between these two cities is 8 hours.
2. First Tests
According to the company, ground tests are planned by 2023 with the first flight in 2024. A crewed flight is planned for 2025. Finally, a test flight of an orbital crewed space vehicle is planned for 2030.
3. How it is going to work?
In a video shared on Space Transportation’s website, passengers are seen boarding the plane attached to a wing powered by rockets, which then take off vertically from a launchpad.
After a vertical takeoff, the plane detaches from the rocket-powered wing and continues its suborbital journey to Dubai, landing vertically on three legs deployed from the rear.
4. Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin head to space
On July 11, 2021, Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson successfully conducted the first suborbital space tourism flight, becoming the first commercial aerospace company founder to go to space.
In less than 10 days, Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos and three other passengers also successfully flew over the “Carmen Line,” experiencing weightlessness and the beautiful scenery of the edge of space, and returned smoothly.
