Blended Wing Aircraft

Blended-wing aircraft have a futuristic UFO look, like something out of a 1950s sci-fi flick. While the configuration was tried unsuccessfully by different air forces in the 1960s, at least three aerospace firms are now convinced these aircraft can compete with—and beat—conventional designs, mostly because of the blended-wing’s superior fuel efficiency.

A blended-wing jet, or “flying wing,” as some call the design, is different from other aircraft because it has no definite fuselage, instead blending the wing and fuselage into one construction.

The entire aircraft provides lift necessary for flight. The Flying V, designed by a team of aerospace engineers and students at TU Delft, and the Airbus Maveric, are the two most famous blended-wing designs. Both firms expect their concepts to be in the air by 2035.

US-based startup JetZero is also working on a blended-wing design called the “Jetliner.”

The company says it will not only be more efficient than a similar-sized commercial jet—with half the fuel burn—but will emit four times less noise, thanks to the engines being on top of the jet. The aircraft will also be ready for zero-emissions fuels like hydrogen fuel cells once that technology comes online.

“Traditional tube-and-wing designs have reached the end of the road on efficiency gains,” said Tom O’Leary, JetZero co-founder and CEO. “Our new airframe meets both the climate challenge and the demands of an underserved mid-market segment.”   READ MORE...

A New Hypersonic Plane

Venus Aerospace is building a hypersonic aircraft that can carry about a dozen passengers, traveling at Mach 9, nine times the speed of sound. The Stargazer, which measures 150 feet long by 100 feet wide, will travel between two cities in the world, says the Houston-based company, by flying 6,905 mph at an altitude of 170,000 feet.

Hypersonic is defined as five times the speed of sound. By comparison, the last commercial supersonic jet, the Concorde, traveled at Mach 2, or about, 1,535 mph. The fastest aircraft ever built, Lockheed’s SR-71 “Blackbird,” traveled at Mach 3.2 (2,455 mph).

Venus co-founder and CTO Andrew Duggleby plans to move Stargazer from science fiction to reality with a rotating-detonation engine that spins at 20,000 rotations per second. “Rotating detonation means the supersonic combustion happens continuously inside the engine and our video shows the detonation wave moving around the engine at supersonic speeds,” noted the company after its recent successful test of a prototype at its Spaceport Houston headquarters.

The Stargazer is one of several hypersonic aircraft trying to get off the ground.

Courtesy Venus Aerospace

The rotating-detonation concept, which burns 20 percent less fuel than a conventional engine, is being promoted by the US Navy. This technology has been successfully tested before. But the Venus test was the first time using a room-temperature storable propellant, which will make the engine more viable for aircraft. “We now have both the technical knowledge and engineering to fully advance into next steps of development and flight testing,” said Duggleby.

The 150,000-lb. Stargazer will take off with conventional jet engines, but then transition to rockets once it reaches altitude. The route it will fly is not technically on the edge of space, or the Karman line, which is 100 kilometers above the Earth’s surface. But it will be high enough to see the planet’s curve and the blackness of space.

“This represents a key advancement towards real flying systems, both for defense applications and ultimately commercial high-speed travel,” said Jim Bridenstine, former NASA administrator and US Congressman, following the test.  READ MORE...