New supersonic passenger plane over Concorde "Quesst"

It was the only supersonic aircraftConcordeHad been retired in 2003, the era in which there are no supersonic airliners that civilians can easily ride has continued, but in the near future opportunities may come around again. NASA in the US collaborated with private enterprises to develop next-generation supersonic passenger aircraftQuesstWe are about to begin development of.

NASA Begins Work to Build a Quieter Supersonic Passenger Jet | NASA
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-begins-work-to-build-a-quieter-supersonic-passenger-jet

Next Concorde? Nasa kickstarts 'Quesst' for new supersonic passenger jet | Science | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/mar/01/next-concorde-nasa-kickstarts-quesst-for-new-supersonic-passenger-jet

On March 1, 2016, NASA will discuss the initial basic design of the next generation supersonic passenger aircraft, QuesstLockheed MartinAnnounced that it has elected a team headed by. Lockheed Martin will receive a budget of 20 million dollars (about 2.3 billion yen) in 17 months, and the aircraft engine manufacturer'sGE · AviationAnd wind tunnel experiment modelTRI MODELSWe will aim to complete the basic design with their subcontractors (consigned companies).

Future Initiatives NASA stated that "Lockheed Martin will develop basic airframe requirements (required body performance) and specifications, and will prepare necessary certificate documents for formulating the airframe concept and planning. We will use it for detailed design, assembly, and testing of Quesst, and the performance in this basic design needs to go through analysis and verification by wind tunnel experiments. "Scale model Model) test flight is said to be carried out by about 2020.

Quesst is a project name attached by "Quiet Supersonic Technology" quietly, it is quietly the point that the three characters "SST (supersonic aircraft)" are hidden. Supersonic machines such as Concorde will generate shock waves when it exceeds the speed of sound, but it has been regarded as a serious problem that this shock wave will damage the earth's surface. For that reason, the Concorde with its supersonic performance was supposed to be subject to constraints such as being limited to the sky above the Atlantic where it is possible to produce speeds beyond Mach.

Originally it was Concorde which was expected to fly around the world, but the shock wave problem was so big that the route was limited, so the spread was delayed and it was not possible to make full use of the original performance, 2003 All of the aircraft have been retired to.

ByThorsten Hansen

Quesst's goal is to explore ways to solve this problem and to develop the next generation supersonic airliner. In the published image diagram, a sharp pointed nose is drawn to alleviate the shock waves generated at the tip of the fuselage, so it seems that a mechanism that optimizes the speed of air flow will be introduced.


NASA's Bolden said about this announcement: "NASA continues to make efforts to make aircraft flights environmentally friendly, safe and quiet. During the high-speed flight research conducted by NASA's predecessor organization (NACA) Check · Jaeger atBell · X-1It is better to touch about 70 years already since we broke the sound speed barrier for the first time. At NASA, we are continuing the legend of this supersonic aircraft "X-plane (X type machine)" by initial design of a quieter supersonic aircraft, which aims to use as a passenger aircraft. " I am announcing a statement.

This effort is included in the Low Boom Flight Demonstration Phase (LBFD: Low Noise Flight Demonstration Phase), and it seems that the response from the general society will be confirmed in the future. The ultimate detailed design and assembly of the aircraft will be decided by the bidding that will be carried out again.

"About NASA's plan," NASA's ten-year New Aviation Horizons initiative is to leave the aircraft shape of a conventional "tube and wing" (cylindrical aircraft and feathers) We have an ambitious goal of reducing fuel consumption, emissions, and noise. " It is a place to wonder in what form a supersonic passenger aircraft that will become the Concorde will be realized.