We may be getting closer to the age of supersonic travel again, with the likes of Lockheed Martin, Boeing and NASA all working on commercial efforts. However, hypersonic technology is all the range right now, and several new concepts are coming to light. Ambitious start-up Venus Aerospace recently joined the growing crowd of firms attempting to achieve hypersonic flight when they unveiled their revolutionary ‘Stargazer’ concept vehicle.
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Venus Aerospace is a Texas-based start-up, and its first concept is a big departure from most passenger airplanes. It has a needle-nosed, dart-like shape, and can theoretically be capable of traveling around the entire globe in about an hour. Hypersonic planes of this nature would take off from a conventional airport at subsonic speeds before streaking into the wild blue yonder to just the edge of outer space while in hypersonic mode (which is more than 50km above the ground).
The aircraft’s proposed dimensions are 100 feet (30.5 m) wide by 150 feet (46 m) long when an actual physical mockup is constructed. The ‘Stargazer’ will tip the scales at 150,000 pounds (68,039 kilograms) and have room to seat a maximum of 12 passengers.
Venus Aerospace was founded just two years ago by Sarah Duggleby and Dr. Andrew Duggleby. Their main goal for this sleek craft that could hypothetically reach velocities of nearly 11,000 kph is to whisk ticket-holders to their destinations in record-breaking time while being also seriously eco-friendly.
“We worked with NASA at the Johnson Space Center and were able to access the information from the sonic boom testing from the space shuttle program,” Duggleby said in an interview. “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.”
