Development
The vehicle is intended to have about 20,000 kilometres (12,000 mi) range and good subsonic and supersonic fuel efficiency, thus avoiding the problems inherent in earlier supersonic aircraft. The top speed is projected to be Mach 5+. It calls for the use of liquid hydrogen as a fuel, which has twice thespecific energy of kerosene, and can be used to cool the vehicle and the air entering the engines via a precooler.
The developers say it would be able to fly from Brussels to Sydney in about 4.6 hours; compared to around a complete day of travel with normal aircraft. The cost of a ticket is intended to be roughly business class level.[1]
| “ | Our work shows that it is possible technically; now it's up to the world to decide if it wants it. | ” |
— Alan Bond, managing director of Reaction Engines Limited |
Design
Capabilities
Alan Bond told The Guardian newspaper:[2]
| “ | The A2 is designed to leave Brussels International Airport, fly quietly and subsonically out into the north Atlantic at Mach 0.9 before reaching Mach 5 across the North Pole and heading over the Pacific to Australia. | ” |
Another advantage of the design is that, while the 143 metre-long A2 is much bigger than conventional jets, it would be lighter than a Boeing 747 and could take off and land on current airport runways.
However, the A2 design does not have windows. The heat generated by traveling so quickly makes it difficult to install windows that are not too heavy. One solution Reaction Engines has proposed is to install flat panel displays, showing images of the scene outside.
Engines
The Scimitar engines use related technology to the company's earlier SABRE an engine which is intended for space launch, but here adapted for very long distance, very high speed travel.
Normally, as air enters a jet engine, it is compressed by the inlet, and thus heats up. This means that high speed engines need to be made of technologies and materials that can survive extremely hightemperatures. In practice, this inevitably makes the engines heavier and also reduces the amount of fuel that can be burnt to avoid melting the gas turbine section of the engine, which in turn reduces thrust at high speed.
The key design feature for the Scimitar engines is the precooler, which is a heat exchanger that transfers the heat from the incoming air into the hydrogen fuel. This greatly cools the air, which allows the engines to burn more fuel even at very high speed, and allows the engines to be made of lighter, but more heat susceptible, materials such as light alloys.
The rest of the engine is described as having high-bypass (4:1[3]) turbofan engine features to give it good efficiency and subsonic (quiet) exhaust velocity at low speeds. Unlike SABRE the A2's engine would not have rocket engine features.
Specifications
- Range: 20,000 kilometres (12,000 mi)
- Length: 143 metres (469 ft)
- Fuel: Liquid hydrogen
- Passengers: 300 (Single Class)
- Cruising speed: Mach 5
- Specific fuel consumption: 0.86 lbf/lb·h at Mach 5 (40,900 m/s[4] - 4,170 seconds), 0.375 lbf/lb·h at Mach 0.9 (96,000 m/s[4] - 9,600 seconds)
- Lift to drag ratio: 11.0 at 5.9 km, Mach 0.9, 5.9 at 25 km Mach 5[5]
- Noise: 101 dBa at 450m lateral[5]
A2 2000 Ground
Takeoff 1
Inflight underneath
25km up
a2 heating
A380 compared
size comparison
With A380 Front
With A380 Side
With A380 Top
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