Looking more like a spaceship than a passenger plane, the SKY Magnetar prototype could carry passengers halfway around the world in minutes.
Design of the SKY Magnetar supersonic aircraft. Photo: Oscar Vinals
Spanish designer Oscar Vinals has unveiled a plane called SKY Magnetar that can reach speeds of 6,759 km/h, three times faster than the Concorde. The vehicle, named after a type of neutron star, can carry passengers from London, England to New York, America in just 50 minutes, breaking the previous record of 2 hours and 52 minutes, the Sun reported on May 13.
The SKY Magnetar design features a sleek body with four wings and two giant engines. The half-rocket, half-plane vehicle is 112 meters long and can accommodate 120 passengers. Passengers will be seated in two rows running along a long, narrow pressurized cabin. Oscar explained that he did not include windows in the design because, at such speeds and pressures, it would be safer to arrange small circular panels on the roof of the cabin, like a space shuttle. He also hopes that each seat will have a "virtual window" screen to entertain passengers.
The prototype will be controlled by two pilots and artificial intelligence. In theory, it will have a range of 11,999 km, allowing it to reach any location in the world in two hours. To achieve its super-high speeds, the vehicle will rely on a combined cycle engine. This experimental technology may be used in NASA's secret X-42 aircraft, which can reach hypersonic speeds of nearly Mach 10 (12,348 km/h). Oscar hopes to also use Dyson's bladeless turbine concept. The SKY Magnetar is also environmentally friendly, running on hydrogen instead of conventional jet fuel.
Although no company or organization has yet confirmed that it will build or test Oscar's designs, he believes they will spur the development of supersonic air travel around the world. The Concorde, jointly developed by Britain and France, was retired in 2003 due to its high noise level, high cost, and small capacity. Currently, the world's fastest jet is the Boeing 747-8i, which reaches a speed of 1,062 km/h, half the speed of the Concorde and one-sixth the speed of the SKY Magnetar.
An Khang (According to Sun )
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