QSST or Quiet Supersonic Transport aircraft is the latest concept aircraft from Lockheed Martin that can reach supersonic speeds without those nerve shattering sonic booms.
The company has been developing the concept since the last six years under a $25-million contract from Supersonic Aerospace International.
The concept QSST will be a 12-passenger plane that would fly at between 47,000 and 57,000 feet with a range of 4,600 miles.
The aircraft has been designed to fly at speeds of Mach 1.6 to 1.8. The best thing about the aircraft is that it will produce a sonic boom that’s only one hundredth the strength of the Mach 2 capable Concorde.
When an aircraft travels faster than the speed of sound it creates pressure waves in the air that collide with one another faster than they can dissipate. These colliding waves result in the sonic boom.
QSST has advanced avionics that prevent these waves from colliding and hence the sonic boom is reduced.
It has an inverted V tail that means the engines are mounted quite far from each other; this means that the pressure waves are kept more far from each other further preventing their collision.
The company plans to develop the plane by 2011.
Via: popsci
