Development
The vehicle is intended to have about 12,430 miles (20,000 km) range and good subsonic and supersonic fuel efficiency, thus avoiding the problems inherent in earlier supersonic aircraft. The top speed is projected to be Mach 5+. It calls for the use of liquid hydrogen as a fuel, which has twice the specific impulse of kerosene, and can be used to cool the vehicle and the air entering the engines via a precooler.
| “ | Our work shows that it is possible technically; now it's up to the world to decide if it wants it. | ” |
|
— Alan Bond, managing director of Reaction Engines Limited |
The developers say it would be able to fly from Brussels to Sydney in about 4.6 hours, compared to around a complete day of travel with normal aircraft. The cost of a ticket is intended to be roughly business class level.
Read more about this topic: Reaction Engines A2
Famous quotes containing the word development:
“America is a country that seems forever to be toddler or teenager, at those two stages of human development characterized by conflict between autonomy and security.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)
“Every new development for the last three centuries has brought men closer to a state of affairs in which absolutely nothing would be recognized in the whole world as possessing a claim to obedience except the authority of the State. The majority of people in Europe obey nothing else.”
—Simone Weil (1909–1943)
“The development of civilization and industry in general has always shown itself so active in the destruction of forests that everything that has been done for their conservation and production is completely insignificant in comparison.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)