NASA is developing supersonic technology that will cut transcontinental flights in half—quietly
THE AIR CORRIDOR FROM THE East to West Coast is one of the busiest in the United States. On a typical day, more than 100 flights make the six-hour journey between the Big Apple and Tinseltown. That’s thousands of hours per day that passengers are stuck in airless, soulless tubes with lousy Wi-Fi. And the experience is much worse when you realize the technology currently exists to cut that time in half—but airlines are forbidden to use it.
The main reason is noise. As soon a plane exceeds the speed of sound— about 767 miles per hour, depending on temperature and other conditions—it creates a thunderclap heard in all directions. The Federal Aviation Administration banned supersonic planes operating over the continental U.S. in 1973. But NASA thinks it can finally solve the problem that’s dogged aerospace engineers for decades—lowering the sonic boom.
This story is from the November 09, 2018 edition of Newsweek.
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This story is from the November 09, 2018 edition of Newsweek.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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