Boeing has debuted its first passenger-carrying hypersonic concept at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics conference in Atlanta this week.
The passenger concept could have military or commercial applications but Boeing says that this design is just one of several hypersonic vehicle concepts spanning a wide range of potential applications company engineers are studying.
“We’re excited about the potential of hypersonic technology to connect the world faster than ever before,” said Kevin Bowcutt, senior technical fellow and chief scientist of hypersonics. “Boeing is building upon a foundation of six decades of work designing, developing and flying experimental hypersonic vehicles, which makes us the right company to lead the effort in bringing this technology to market in the future.”
Although Bowcutt can’t speculate when hypersonic flight for global travel will be a reality, he says it’s possible a hypersonic passenger vehicle could be airborne in 20 to 30 years.
