Meet ZEHST...Paris to Tokyo in 2 1/2 hours...

I have to admit...this is soooooo cool !!

ZEHST stands for Zero Emission High Speed Transport

Date of arrival 2040 - 2050

Mach 4 capability

Zero emissions as it will mostly fly in the stratosphere

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/fe09a989f03b.jpg[/atsimg]

EADS revealed the proposal at the Le Bourget air show (June 18, 2011). It is expected to fly at mach 4, 32km above the ground, and it will carry 50 to 100 people. It will combine three propulsion systems: two turbofans for take-off and up to Mach 0.8, then rocket boosters up to Mach 2.5, then two underwing ramjets would accelerate it to Mach 4.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/489be78ef54c.png[/atsimg]

The so called Zero Emission Hypersonic Transportation (Zehst) system notionally should fill the high-end market niche left unmet since the retirement of Concorde, says Jean Botti, chief technical officer at EADS.

The maximum acceleration the passengers would be exposed to is around 1.2g.

I hate flying but I would try one of those anytime, anywhere !!





nextbigfuture.com...


Just awesome !!

Sweet, so I have to wait until I'm a senior citizen to see the cool tech?

I'm sure something better will come along, 2050 is a long ways off and this is based on current knowledge and technology, all it would take is one big leap between then and there for this to be outdated. it would be great to see a scramjet used in a commercial liner though.

Turbofans for takeoff, rockets for spped boost, then scramjets..

Presumably the "zero emmissions" wil come about because it uses hydrogen as fuel, so it's emissions will be water vapour........even though water vapour is the main greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, and possible climate effects of contrails are under investigation.

Hydrogen was used as a fuel in some of the earliest jets (Hans v. Ohain used it in his early experiments), and perhaps by then mineral oil based fueld will be uneconomic for various reasons...so maybe the propulsion technology will be available.

but at the very least the environmental effects of pumping tons of water vapour into the stratosphere will undoubtably come in for much scrutiny before anyone lets it hapen.

it's an interesting kite to fly

Based upon the image with so few windows, they don't anticipate transporting many people. Considering this technology and its costs, it would be another toy for the elite so it wouldn't need to haul many.

reply to post by SonoftheSun


Those hydrogen tanks better be impenetrable,... otherwise...KABOOM!!!:

Originally posted by miniatus
Sweet, so I have to wait until I'm a senior citizen to see the cool tech

I'll be a very old man (or maybe even dead) when we get there...thanks for reminding me.

And since it is meant to replace the high end niche that the Concorde occupied...who's going to enjoy it? Aside from the wealthy...

Now I feel depressed. Balloon just popped. Oh well, cost nothing to imagine the feeling of flying in one of those!!

Originally posted by coastlinekid
reply to post by SonoftheSun

 

Those hydrogen tanks better be impenetrable,... otherwise...KABOOM!!!:

Damn !! Stop it !!

It seemed like a good idea !!

Originally posted by coastlinekid
reply to post by SonoftheSun

 

Those hydrogen tanks better be impenetrable,... otherwise...KABOOM!!!:

Probably not as much as you think - www.evworld.com...

reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul


A hydrogen tank in a car would be under considerably less pressure than those HUGE tanks...we are talking massive amounts of hydrogen,... exposed to a little more than your average car on the road...we are talking micro-meteoroids bombarding this supposed commercial aircraft on a regular basis...would you trust your life to that risk?... all it would take for this project to be axed is a competing company showing the Challenger disaster over and over again in their commercials...

The price of a National Aero Space Plane (NASP) was estimated at two billion per plane. That high cost and the Rand independent eval put a stop on the program in 1993. The R&D of that time had theoretical maximum speed of mach 17, the original goal by NASA was mach 25.
Slush hydrogen was the fuel and designed to snake all around the airframe helping to cool at higher speeds.
I wonder if they read the Rand eval? It is on their website for free. Might save them the trouble of going ahead with this.

reply to post by coastlinekid


Cryogenic liquid hydrogen is only stored at low pressure - about 2 atmospheres gauge in the shuttle external tank for example - the pressure component is not very high at all.