halo
- Technology
Green Skies at Mach 5
Modern air travel is a marvel. It's also a source of endless delay, annoyance and planet-killing greenhouse gases. A proposed hydrogen-powered hypersonic airliner could change all that. The plane is Reaction Engines's A2 concept, a Mach-5 (3,400mph) craft for 300 passengers funded in part by the European Union's Long-Term Advanced Propulsion Concepts and Technologies project (Lapcat). Lapcat wants an airliner that can fly from Brussels to Sydney in less than four hours. If built, the A2 will do just that—without producing a trace of carbon emissions.
4.12.2008 at 09:50am - Comment by haloif you did not already know, the a2 lapcat is twice as long as the airbus a380 and 747-400. I have also discovered that the a2 is 1 meter (3 feet) wider than the 747-400 and about .25 meters (0.7 feet) wider than the a380. This gives the A-2 a capacity to carry 600+ passengers, but it only carries 300. This means that every passenger gets a bit more room. I would go on this plane since it offers more comfort and travles 20,000 km in 4 hours.
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December 2009: Best of What's New
In our December issue, Popular Science names the 100 best innovations of the year: bombproof wallpaper, self-parking cars, the fastest helicopter, and 97 more. Plus inventor profiles and videos.
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