The space company Virgin Galactic aims to develop a new Supersonic passenger plane. The company of British billionaire Richard Branson announced on Monday a partnership with the engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce. The futuristic-looking aircraft with room for nine to 19 passengers to fly with three times the speed of sound (Mach 3). As a travel height of about 18,000 meters to be targeted. This is about twice as high as in the case of ordinary passenger aircraft.
The development team had to overcome a number of challenges, explained Virgin Galactic – among other things, noise, emissions, maintenance, and the question of cost-effectiveness.
until now, there was the Concorde, a Supersonic passenger plane. She was with twice the speed of sound (Mach 2) on-the-go, was because of the enormous fuel consumption, but not profitable. The crash of a Concorde in Paris 20 years ago – on 25. July 2000 – 113 dead, the end of the mythical supersonic aircraft launched. The operation was set in 2003.
Virgin Galactic actually has the objective to bring space tourists into space. The company is trying, in the meantime, but to diversify. In may, Virgin Galactic announced an agreement with the American space Agency Nasa for the development of high-speed technology.
