Chinese company has sights set on hypersonic passenger jet that can make a full Earth lap in 7 hours

Beijing-based Lingkong Tianxing Technology is got its sights set on creating a hypersonic passenger plane that could travel at Mach 5, or speeds of than 3,800mph.

The company, which is also known as Space Transportation, has already completed the first test flight of its Cuantianhou prototype, which can hit speeds of Mach 4 – around 3,069mph. 

This would mean the plane could reduce a flight between London and New York to just 90 minutes, or complete a full lap of the planet in eight hours.

But it’s not stopping there and has plans for an even faster, hypersonic plane.

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There haven’t been any commercial supersonic flights since Concorde took its final journey in 2003. 

Currently, there are several companies working on supersonic planes, including Boom Overture. 

NASA is also researching new super-quiet supersonic flights with it X-59 aircraft.

Over in China, Lingkong Tianxing Technology has been quietly working away on its Cuantianhou prototype – an aircraft capable of flying more than double the speed of Concorde. 

Back in October, Lingkong Tianxing said its Cuantianhou prototype had successfully flown at Mach 4, more than twice the speed of Concorde. 

At those speeds, a journey from London to New York in around an hour and a half and could complete a lap of the planet in around eight hours.

The company plans to have the aircraft passenger ready by 2027.

However, not quite content with those eye-popping speeds, Lingkong Tianxing is hoping to launch a hypersonic plane that can hit Mach 5 (3,836mph). 

To give some context, supersonic flights typically travel at speeds between Mach 1.2 and Mach 5, whereas hypersonic flights are those which exceed Mach 5.

Speaking to Space News, Lingkong Tianxing general manager Fan Deng said the company’s ‘ultimate goal is hypersonic point-to-point travel’ and the Cuantianhou is a stepping stone to help hit that goal. 

The company hope to have a larger spaceplane ready by 2031 that can carry up to 50 passengers and is capable of hitting Mach 5. 

However, the company is realistic about the hurdles that may lie ahead. 

“One big challenge is technology, and another big challenge, actually, is policy, the aviation policy of different countries,” said Fan. 

“So in the future, we must do much more work on that.”

The hypersonic would make travel between London and New York closer to an hour and would be able to complete a lap of the Earth in around seven hours. 

For now, it seems as though we’re still a while away from launching such a spaceplane, but Lingkong Tianxing is firmly at the forefront. 

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