A Chinese company is developing a hypersonic plane capable of flying between Beijing and New York in an hour.
The “winged rocket” will be able to fly at a breathtaking 7,000 miles per hour and scientists hope it will be ready for take-off by 2024, The Sun reported.
Testing is reportedly scheduled to begin next year.
Space.com reports that the futuristic plane is being developed by Space Transportation, and the company aims to conduct a full point-to-point flight by the end of the decade.
In a promotional video released by the company, the plane detaches from the wing powered by rockets after launch, before continuing on, while the wing and boosters land back on the launch pad.
When it arrives at its destination, the plane will land using three legs that unfold from the rear.
The company is confident that it will be able to connect New York with China’s capital city in only an hour.
“We are developing a winged rocket for high-speed, point-to-point transportation, which is lower in cost than rockets that carry satellites and faster than traditional aircraft,” the firm told Chinese media.
China continues to devote large amounts of money and resources to developing hypersonic aircrafts.
At the end of last year, the country unveiled plans for an aircraft that can transport 10 people anywhere on Earth in one hour.
With tips pointing up, the prototype has a pair of delta wings similar to those on the British and French designed Concorde.
At 148 feet long, the planned hypersonic plane is larger than a Boeing 737 and has twin engines mounted on top of the main body, according to the South China Morning Post.
Reportedly using a design abandoned by NASA because it is cost prohibitive, the communist nation is also developing a 6,000-mph nuke missile engine.
China secretly launched a rocket in space last August carrying a hypersonic glide vehicle that circled the globe before heading towards its target. U.S. intelligence and military officials were reportedly left stunned by the event.
The nuke-capable missile missed its target by about 24 miles, intelligence sources told the Financial Times.
Space Transportation announced last August that it had raised $46 million for its hypersonic space plane.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.