Oh for the glory days of travel, when the seats were bigger, the food was better, and you could jet across the Atlantic in less than three hours.

Since the 2003 end of Concorde, of course, flitting quickly across the Atlantic has been a thing of the past. Flights between London and New York take around eight hours, or closer to seven in the other direction. The record currently stands at just under five hours from New York to London, pushed on by a favorable jetstream.

But now, the thought of supersonic travel has been mooted again — by none other than NASA, which reckons that New York-London flight could take as little as 90 minutes in the future.

The space agency has confirmed in a blog post about its “high-speed strategy” that it has recently studied whether commercial flights at up to Mach 4 — over 4,828 kilometers per hour — could take off in the future.

The study by NASA’s Glenn Research Center suggested that there are already “potential passenger markets… in about 50 established routes.”

These routes were confined to transoceanic ones, including over the North Atlantic and the Pacific, because nations including the U.S. ban overland supersonic flight.

However, NASA is developing “quiet” supersonic aircraft, called X-59, as part of its Quesst mission. The agency hopes that the new aircraft could eventually prompt modification of these rules, clearing the way for aircraft flying between Mach 2 and Mach 4 (2,470 — 4,900 kilometers per hour). Concorde’s maximum speed was Mach 2.04, or 2,179 kilometers per hour. A jet traveling at Mach 4 could potentially make a transatlantic crossing in as little as 90 minutes.

Following the studies, NASA’s Advanced Air Vehicles Program (AAV) will now move to its next research phase for high-speed travel, contracting companies to develop designs and “explore air travel possibilities, outline risks and challenges, and identify needed technologies to make Mach 2-plus travel a reality,” the agency said. There will be two teams working on the research: one headed by Boeing, the other by Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems. Each will come up with designs for aircraft capable of sustaining high-supersonic speeds.

Similar studies to the ones done now, which were carried out a decade ago, shaped the development of the X-59 aircraft, according to Lori Ozoroski, project manager for NASA’s Commercial Supersonic Technology Project. In the same way, she added, the new studies will “refresh those looks at technology roadmaps and identify additional research needs for a broader high-speed range.”

The next phase will also consider “safety, efficiency, economic and societal considerations,” said Mary Jo Long-Davis, manager of NASA’s Hypersonic Technology Project, adding that “It’s important to innovate responsibly.”

In July, Lockheed Martin completed the build of NASA’s X-59 test aircraft, which is designed to turn sonic booms into mere thumps, in the hope of making overland supersonic flight a possibility. Ground tests and a first test flight are planned for later in the year. NASA aims to have enough data to hand over to U.S. regulators in 2027. (SD-Agencies)

Words to Learn

相关词汇

【讨论】 tǎolùn

moot

raise for discussion

【音爆】 yīnbào

sonic boom

shock wave produced by an aircraft flying at sonic or supersonic speed that sounds like a clap of thunder

旅行的光辉岁月啊！那时座位更宽敞，食物更美味，不到三小时就能飞越大西洋。

自2003年协和客机停飞以来，快速飞越大西洋已成为过去式。伦敦到纽约之间的飞行时间约为8小时，返程则接近7小时。

在顺风气流的推动下，目前从纽约飞到伦敦的最短时间记录为不到5小时。

现在，美国宇航局（NASA）再次提出了超音速旅行的想法。该机构认为，未来纽约至伦敦的飞行时间可缩短至90分钟。

美宇航局在一篇关于其“高速战略”的博文中证实，该局最近考虑了未来以最高4马赫（超过每小时4828公里）的速度进行商业飞行的可能性。

宇航局格伦研究中心的研究表明，“在大约50条既定航线上......已存在潜在的客运市场”。这仅限于跨洋航线，包括飞越北大西洋和太平洋上空，因为包括美国在内的多国禁止陆上超音速飞行。

不过，作为Quesst任务的一部分，美宇航局正在研制名为 X-59 的“静音”超音速飞机。该机构希望新飞机最终能促使规则得到修改，为飞行速度在2至4马赫（每小时 2470至4900 公里）之间的飞机扫清道路。协和客机的最高速度为2.04马赫，即每小时2179公里。以4马赫速度飞行的喷气式飞机有可能在短短 90分钟内飞越大西洋。

现在，美宇航局的先进飞行器计划（AAV）将进入高速旅行的下一研究阶段，与公司签约开发设计，“探索空中旅行的可能性，找出风险和挑战，并确定实现2马赫以上飞行所需的技术”。两个团队将从事这项研究：一个由波音公司领导，另一个由诺思罗普•格鲁曼公司领导。每个团队都将设计出自己的超高音速飞机。

美宇航局商业超音速项目经理洛丽•奥佐罗斯基表示，与现在进行的研究类似，十年前的研究对X-59飞机的开发起到了决定性作用。她补充说，新研究将“重新审视技术路线图，并确定满足不同速度超音速飞机的研究需求”。

宇航局超高音速项目经理玛丽•乔•朗-戴维斯说，下一阶段还将考虑“安全、效率、经济和社会因素。负责任地进行创新非常重要”。

今年 7 月，洛克希德•马丁公司完成了X-59试验机的建造工作，该飞机旨在将音爆变成更小的砰砰声，希望使陆上超音速飞行成为可能。

该机型计划今年晚些时候进行地面测试和首次试飞。美国宇航局的目标是在2027年向该国监管机构提交充分的数据。

(Translated by Debra)