麻豆传媒

麻豆传媒 has been in print since 1956, around the time ideas for Concorde, the supersonic Anglo-French airliner, were starting to germinate. It was an exciting period for technology. The first Sputnik satellite was launched the following year and the idea of flying faster than the speed of sound grew out of that space age optimism. Yet by 1986, Concorde鈥檚 problems were appearing. 鈥淚t was a triumph for technology in design, materials and engines 鈥� but a commercial disaster,鈥� in our 30th anniversary issue.

Our coverage didn鈥檛 stop there, however. As well as reporting on Concorde鈥檚 fall from grace, we鈥檝e written about the ideas that might finally make supersonic flight a realistic mass transport option 鈥� a future that now seems nearer than ever.

1971

鈥淭he best thing that any business man can do with his few hours saved by flying supersonically is to have a few more Martinis鈥�

Concorde鈥檚 first commercial flight wasn鈥檛 until 1976. But five years earlier 鈥� and just two years after the prototype first flew 鈥� 麻豆传媒 was wondering . Leaving aside the prestige of making Concorde work, was there actually a market for the idea if it only saved a few wealthy people a little time?

1988

鈥淔lying supersonically needs a pure jet but you don鈥檛 want that on the ground鈥�

Most jet airliners have 鈥渢urbofan鈥� engines that suck in a lot of air but accelerate it relatively slowly. That makes them much quieter than Concorde鈥檚 鈥渄irect jet鈥� engines. These pumped air through them as quickly as possible to achieve faster speeds. By the late 1980s, Rolls-Royce wanted to so they could switch between the two systems, with the quieter one working during take-off to avoid making the racket Concorde did.

1994

鈥淎 fleet of 鈥榙aughters of Concorde鈥� could trigger greater destruction of ozone鈥�

Concorde could fly at about 60,000 feet, way above the typical 35,000 feet at which passenger jets cruise. This took it well into the stratosphere, where tiny droplets of unburned fuel in its exhaust might help destroy ozone. In the 1990s, when plans for Concorde鈥檚 successors were being proposed, atmospheric chemists banded together to .

2000

鈥淎 tyre burst alone should never cause the loss of a public transport aircraft鈥�

On 25 July 2000, a Concorde took off from Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris and minutes later crashed into a hotel on the outskirts of the city, killing all 109 people on board and four people on the ground. It was the only accident in Concorde鈥檚 27-year operating history, but it tarnished the plane鈥檚 reputation. Investigators later found that the plane had , which fired a piece of tyre into the wing fuel tank, causing a fire.

2002

鈥淭his aircraft was chosen because its wings are more flexible than those of most others鈥�

Concorde did not retire from service until 2003, but long before that engineers were dreaming of the next generation of supersonic aircraft. In 2002, the US air force rather than using flaps as conventional planes do. The hope was that this strategy would lead to a next generation of lighter 鈥� and so faster 鈥� supersonic jets.

2004

鈥淚ts radical, air-breathing engine can function at speeds of nearly 12,000 kilometres per hour鈥�

Things accelerated quickly after the flexible winged F-18 project. A few years later, NASA鈥檚 prototype X-43A scramjet flew for 10 seconds at . The plane didn鈥檛 have to resort to using rockets, which carry fuel and oxygen, to reach that speed. Instead, it managed to suck in oxygen from the air quickly enough to burn fuel at a fast-enough rate.

2005

鈥淭he launch ended in disaster when the aeroplane separated from the rocket and fell onto the launch pad鈥�

The Japanese had been interested in developing rival supersonic aircraft for decades. The focus was on producing an aircraft that was both quieter than Concorde and had a greater range 鈥� so it could make trans-Pacific flights. By the mid-2000s, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency had begun testing its designs, but .

2006

鈥淓ven if the airplane works as hoped, there is no guarantee that aviation authorities will let it fly鈥�

It wasn鈥檛 just government agencies that cared about supersonic flight. Private firms also thought there might still be a market despite Concorde鈥檚 retirement. In 2006, a consortium called Supersonic Aerospace International commissioned Lockheed Martin to design a private jet that could travel at Mach 1.6. But as 麻豆传媒 reported, there was never any guarantee it would be allowed to fly in US airspace, due to the ban on supersonic flight over land.

2009

鈥淲e鈥檙e pretty close to being able to control sonic booms鈥�

More recently, it has looked more and more feasible that sonic booms can be softened. Eight years ago, NASA . The idea was that if the shock waves produced by the front and rear of a plane could be spread out, the resulting boom would be muffled. The agency鈥檚 latest research suggests that this sort of technique could change the boom from sounding like two sharp rifle shots to something more like a low, thunderous rumble. The dream of supersonic flight, it seems, is still alive.