[bootlegga]

Quote:

European aerospace giant EADS on Sunday unveiled its "Zero Emission Hypersonic Transportation" (Zehst) rocket plane it hopes will be able to fly from Paris to Tokyo in 2.5 hours by around 2050.

"I imagine the plane of the future to look like Zehst," EADS' chief technical officer Jean Botti said as the project was announced at Le Bourget airport the day before the start of the Paris International Air Show.

The low-pollution plane to carry between 50 and 100 passengers will take off using normal engines powered by biofuel made from seaweed before switching on its rocket engines at altitude.

The rocket engines, powered by hydrogen and oxygen whose only exhaust is water vapour, propel the plane to a cruising altitude of 32 kilometres (20 miles), compared to today's passenger jets which fly at around 10,000 metres.

"You don't pollute, you're in the stratosphere," Botti said.

To land, the pilot cuts the engines and glides down to Earth before reigniting the regular engines before landing.

EADS hopes to have a prototype built by 2020 and for the plane to eventually enter service around 2050.

The project is being developed in collaboration with Japan and uses technology that is already available.

A four-metre model of the plane, which looks similar to the now defunct Concorde supersonic jet, will be on show at Bourget for the biannual aerospace showcase which begins on Monday and opens to the general public on Friday.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/eads-rocketpla ... 15553.html

[raydan]

You'll still have to arrive at the airport 3 hours before takeoff.
There will be a 2.5 hour delay before bording.
There will be a 1 hour delai before the pilot gets the OK for takeoff.
The plane will hold .75 hours before getting a runway for landing.
It will take you 1.5 hours to get through customs... if you're lucky.


Enjoy your flight!

[-Wario-]

and when they loose your luggage, they'll put it on the regular plane which will land 18hrs later.

[BartSimpson]

The nonsense about the biofuel (made from seaweed and kitten kisses) is, well, nonsense. It'll probably use some sort of hydrazine fuel since hydrazines are a proven high performance fuel. As to the notion that you're not polluting because you're in the stratosphere, please. If you pollute anywhere then you're polluting.

Further, the enviroweenies who spazzed all over the Concorde are going to go absolutely ape-sh*t over this one with all sorts of typical BS protests: It's too loud! It flies too fast! It impacts the Southern Andalusian green and white elderberry beetle! The only people who can afford to fly in it are RICH! and etc.

It's a great idea but I think they're being optimistic about the 2050 implementation. Unless the enviroweenie crowd is beat down then I doubt this technology will show up at local airports before 2100.

[Dragon-Dancer]

Anything that produces less emissions will be well regarded by all but the most hard line environmentalists. Heck, if it costs less to operate than today's commercial airliners, airlines will be lining up to buy them.

While I'm not convinced the bio fuel will be less polluting unless or will have a smaller impact than regular fuel since you still have grow the stuff the rocket engines certainly sound like a good advance.

Quote:

The rocket engines, powered by hydrogen and oxygen whose only exhaust is water vapor, propel the plane to a cruising altitude of 32 kilometres (20 miles), compared to today's passenger jets which fly at around 10,000 metres.

Water vapor seems more desirable than CO2.

[BartSimpson]

Dragon-Dancer wrote:

Water vapor seems more desirable than CO2.

Water vapor in the atmosphere is the #1 greenhouse gas.

[CommanderSock]

Problem is...we might need to move away from Bio Fuels as food prices continue to surge.

You know...starvation vs carbon emission, I know which one wins.

[Dragon-Dancer]

Hmm, can't really comment on that. I'm not an atmospheric scientist... I did say it /seems/ more desirable.

CommanderSock wrote:

Problem is...we might need to move away from Bio Fuels as food prices continue to surge.

You know...starvation vs carbon emission, I know which one wins.

Depends on how we go about making said bio fuel. Right now we're kind of shooting ourselves in the foot by using food crops to make fuel instead of to feed people. There may be a more sustainable solution to be had. I remember reading about a bio fuel made from waste organic matter at some point but I don't remember where. In any case there must be a better mass market solution out there somewhere.

[BartSimpson]

CommanderSock wrote:

Problem is...we might need to move away from Bio Fuels as food prices continue to surge.

You know...starvation vs carbon emission, I know which one wins.

Starving the 3rd world and reducing the population is the most effective strategy against 'global warming'.

Just ask a true believer:

http://www.ginosaronglobalwarming.org/b ... ome-quotes

[PublicAnimalNo9]

Dragon-Dancer wrote:

Hmm, can't really comment on that. I'm not an atmospheric scientist... I did say it /seems/ more desirable.

CommanderSock wrote:

Problem is...we might need to move away from Bio Fuels as food prices continue to surge.

You know...starvation vs carbon emission, I know which one wins.

Depends on how we go about making said bio fuel. Right now we're kind of shooting ourselves in the foot by using food crops to make fuel instead of to feed people. There may be a more sustainable solution to be had. I remember reading about a bio fuel made from waste organic matter at some point but I don't remember where. In any case there must be a better mass market solution out there somewhere.

Seaweed. Hell, 75% of our planet is water, I'm sure we could use some of it for bio fuel farms without disrupting the food supply.

[sandorski]

CommanderSock wrote:

Problem is...we might need to move away from Bio Fuels as food prices continue to surge.

You know...starvation vs carbon emission, I know which one wins.

No problem. We'll soon be eating food synthesized from sewer sludge.

[DanSC]

We've had technology to fly from Paris to Tokyo in that time since 1963.