The new technology is so fast that it could make a round trip on the earth in two hours.
The new hypersonic jet engine is developed by Chinese scientists and is named Sodramjet. It is capable of going 16 times the speed of sound. Hence, an aircraft fitted with this engine can fly to anywhere in the world in two hours.
The maiden flight of its prototype was tested in a wind tunnel in Beijing. It showed exceptional thrust, fuel efficiency, and operational stability.
This sort of hypersonic engine could be used in reusable trans-atmospheric planes, which will allow them to take off from the runway vertically. It would also allow the aircraft to orbit the earth in outer space, return to the earth’s atmosphere, and land at the airport in an unbelievable less time.
According to the scientists, the engine can make aircraft travel 16 times faster than the sound speed, but that is yet to be tested as it only stands as a claim till now. Only one tunnel in the whole world could test an engine with such high capabilities under construction in China.
The team is sure that their built Sodramjet technology would let the commercial aircraft fly at hypersonic speeds.
The Sodramjet is the second developed engine with such extensive hypersonic capabilities. The first one is the Scramjet developed by American scientists and engineers, but unfortunately, it had some technical issues.
A hypersonic aerodynamics researcher told South China Morning Post that this test might already have been conducted. He furthermore added that China keeps its hypersonic program under the high cover due to its potential military uses.
Such technologies are getting us closer to fly higher and at much faster speeds than what is known to humans. This makes it that commercial aircraft might use some unconventional ways to fly shortly.