Soon, supersonic plane that can dampen sonic booms
Washington, July 1 (ANI): A new design concept for a revolutionary faster-than-sound plane could shatter the legal barriers followed by supersonic flights over land - by hushing the sonic booms created by such aircraft.
According to a NASA statement, the concept aircraft, a brainchild of aerospace major Lockheed Martin, would revolutionize supersonic cruising by relying upon a so-called "inverted-V" engine-under wing configuration, where the engines sit atop the wings rather than beneath.
A Lockheed illustration of the supersonic concept released by NASA is just one of several designs presented in April to the space agency's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate following a call for studies on advanced aircraft that could take to the skies sometime around 2030 or 2035, reports Space.com.
The US and many other countries previously banned overland supersonic flights because of their classic sonic boom and rattle effect.
That prevented the now out of use Concorde airliner from going supersonic except over water during transatlantic trips. Since then, NASA has undertaken several studies with supersonic flights with the objective of shushing supersonic booms. (ANI)