A Closer Look At The Commercial Aircraft Patent That Will Help People Fly From SF To Tokyo In 3 Hours

There has been significant media attention given to the new Airbus supersonic aircraft. We’d like to highlight some of the more interesting aspects of the invention, because there are some surprises.

Here are a few images from the newly granted US Patent 9,079,661 brought to you by French inventors Marco Prampolini and Yhann Coraboeuf who have assigned the patent to a Paris company, Astrium SAS in cooperation with the European Aeronautical Defense and Space Company (EADS). 

In order to achieve a one hour flight time between New York and London, the aircraft reaches its cruising altitude at Mach 1. This altitude can be reached by near vertical ascent propelled by both turbojets and a rocket.  

 At cruising altitude, the turbojets retract into the fuselage. The rocket, which is fueled by liquid hydrogen and oxygen, carries the aircraft through its cruise. Cruise is maintained at up to Mach 4.5 at an elevation over 100,000 feet. Upon the beginning of descent, the rocket shuts off. Now that’s what I call Bold!