AN AEROSPACE start-up has revealed the first glimpses of its new hypersonic jet which it claims can fly travellers from New York to Tokyo in an hour.
To do so, the jet will have to take flyers to the cusp of space before they touch down on Earth again.
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The jet, by Venus Aerospace and aptly called Stargazer, can hit an eyewatering maximum speed of 6,905.42mph, also known to those in the industry as Mach 9.
The power comes from a rotating-detonation engine that spins at 20,000 rotations per second, but it will take off using conventional jet engines.
The aircraft has been jointly-developed with Nasa’s top human spaceflight facility.
The team behind it has been studying data from the US space agency’s Space Shuttle programme.
It takes off from a conventional airport, and once built, should be side-by-side with the likes of EasyJet, Ryanair and British Airways.
But unlike traditional holidaygoers, those aboard Stargazer could reach 170,000ft.
It’s expected to take competitions for a window seat to a whole new level once it officially gets off the ground.
For now, all we have are CGIs of the aircraft prior to a prototype being built.
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But it’s set to be 100ft wide and 150ft long, with a take off weight of around 150,000 pounds.
It will only have room for 12 passengers, however, so ticket prices are anticipated to be fairly lofty.
“This isn’t science fiction, this is science fact,” says Dr Andrew Duggleby, a co-founder of Venus Aerospace.
“We worked with Nasa at the Johnson Space Centre and were able to access the information from the sonic boom testing from the Space Shuttle program.
“We determined that at altitude and speed flying you will not be able to hear us — we will be flying at 170,000 feet at Mach 9.”
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