Scientists in China have revealed that a jumbo jet prototype has reached hypersonic speeds during a flight test. The test, conducted in 2021, showed the aircraft hitting Mach 6.56, or approximately 5,033 miles per hour, according a paper published in the Chinese journal Physics, Mechanics and Astronomy marking a milestone in aviation technology.
The test flight took place at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi Desert, northwest China, in August 2021. The results were kept secret due to the sensitive nature of the project. However, the Chinese Academy of Sciences recently shared the test flight details and a video of the prototype’s lift-off on social media.
Cui Kai, the project’s leader and a researcher at the Institute of Mechanics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, revealed the test results during an event in Beijing in October. “At the time, everyone thought it was a crazy idea,” Cui said. “We faced almost universal skepticism. Fortunately, we chose to persevere. I always believed that innovation thrives amid doubt.”
In 2013, Cui and his team presented a conceptual configuration of a jumbo jet capable of hypersonic speeds. They predicted it could ferry passengers and cargo from Beijing to New York in just two hours, a significant reduction from the usual 13-hour commercial flight.
“It took us almost three years to come up with the design,” Cui explained. “We aimed to create a hypersonic aircraft that could carry as many passengers and cargo as current jumbo jets.”
ALSO READ: China New Hypersonic Plane could cover Paris, France to Beijing, China Distance in 1.5 Hours
By 2018, reports indicated that Cui’s team had developed a design for a hypersonic jet. Unlike the slim concepts for hypersonic vehicles seen worldwide, this new design featured a bulky body. “It features a fat and round fuselage and cape-shaped wings on its back,” Cui noted.
The test flight addressed a major challenge in aircraft design: maintaining usable interior space as flight speed increases. Hypersonic vehicles usually have restricted internal space, limiting their use to military applications like missiles and unmanned reconnaissance missions.
“At high speeds, the front of a large airframe experiences significant downward pressure, impairing its climbing ability,” Cui explained. To solve this, his team added a broad wing surface above the airframe to convert this downward pressure into upward lift. However, this added complexity to the design. “The tests cost hundreds of thousands of yuan,” Cui said, “but repeating them multiple times confirmed the viability of our design.”
ALSO READ: Elon Musk Claims 30-Minute London to New York Flights at 16,700mph Possible Soon
Despite the successful test flight, Cui acknowledged that many challenges remain. “We still face numerous challenges that need to be addressed directly, including issues related to power, materials, and structure,” he said. “We have only completed a small fraction of the work and taken a modest step forward.”
The Chinese Academy of Sciences did not disclose whether a full-scale model of the aircraft has been built or when it might fly. However, they remain optimistic about the future of hypersonic travel.
The SCMP report noted, “The team’s efforts could help revolutionize human transport, turning the concept of “one-hour global travel” from science fiction into reality.”
The National Natural Science Foundation of China approved funding in 2022 to support the development of civilian hypersonic flight technology. If Cui and his team succeed, it could revolutionize air travel, making ultra-short journeys possible.
“There is a fierce race among nations to develop hypersonic technology,” Cui remarked. By 2035, China plans to have a fleet of crewed hypersonic aircraft capable of reaching any location on Earth in a matter of hours.
The United States is also working on hypersonic aircraft technology. The US Air Force plans to introduce the SR-72 “Darkstar,” a Lockheed Martin aircraft that can reach speeds of Mach 6. Hypersonic research began in the late 1950s with the ambitious X-15 program. However, the focus shifted away from hypersonic technology during the Vietnam War and later to counterterrorism efforts.
Meanwhile, China has continued with its hypersonic ambitions. “If the new claims are to be believed, Beijing appears to have come very far with hypersonic aircraft development—much farther than the West may have previously anticipated,” noted the South China Morning Post.
