Antipode hypersonic jet: New York to London in 11 minutes? | CNN Travel: The Antipode -- the newest futuristic plane concept from Charles Bombardier -- would be 12 times faster than the Concorde. So when can we get a test run?
(CNN) — Remember the Skreemr, a concept for a supersonic plane that could travel at Mach 10?
Scratch that, there's now a design for a plane that could cruise from London to New York in 11 minutes, traveling at Mach 24 -- that's 12 times faster than the Concorde!
Charles Bombardier, the industrial designer who came up with both designs, has dubbed this newest concept the Antipode, which he conceived in collaboration with Lunatic Koncepts founder Abhishek Roy. In theory, it could carry up to 10 passengers up to 12,430 miles in under an hour.
What Is A Scramjet?
Basically, turbofan engines — like you would find in every big airliner — are only really efficient up to around Mach 2.5. Ramjets can then take you to around Mach 4, but then they too lose their efficiency. These engines will have the same inlet and nozzle, with some kind of mechanical system that shifts the airflow between the two portions of the engine as airspeed changes. Whereas a ramjet decelerates incoming air to subsonic speeds, a scramjet is supersonic throughout, allowing for much higher air speeds (no one knows quite how fast, but we’re talking about at least Mach 10).
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