A plane that can cross the entire ocean in two hours. This is an idea that has been tested once to no avail with the Concord. Now Boeing is giving the idea a second chance. Boeing is the leader when it comes to hypersonic flight, from experimental planes such as X-15 and X-45 they know what they are doing.
The challenges of creating a plane that could fly at such speeds are incredible. A traditional engine’s fan blades would end up being ripped apart because of the speed at which they are spinning, thus Boeing is planning on using a “turbofan” engine that could withstand the speeds of mach 5 and above. Another problem needing a solution is the fact that to reach such speeds having a tail on the aircraft is impossible due to problems caused by drag. This means that the back-end of the aircraft is split into 4 prongs with make for an odd looking, yet elegant, rear of the plane.
What Boeing released today however was just a concept and there will most definitely be changes made when the first launch could finally be possible in around 20 years.
This relates to engineering because it required a lot of people to come up with many different ideas to get this concept ready. It will require much more hard work and time before the engineers and designers will be ready to make a final product.
