The prototype aircraft is known as the Hyper Sting and is expected to hit speeds in excess of 2,600mph – twice as fast as the legendary Concorde. 7 The Hyper Sting is a prototype hypersonic aircraft faster and larger than ConcordeCredit: OSCAR VINALS 7 The plane will be powered by a theoretical nuclear reactor using cold fusionCredit: OSCAR VINALS 7 It could reach speeds of up to 2,600 mphCredit: OSCAR VINALS The aircraft is also larger – it is 328 feet long with a wingspan of 168 feet – and it is hoped that it will be able to carry up to 170 passengers. Passengers would be seated in two rows of three – with similar capacity to an Airbus A320, an aircraft frequently used by easyJet and RyanAir. With a sleek design that focuses on comfort, we hope the plane will be able to fly around the world quietly, efficiently and at incredible speeds. The Hyper Sting would essentially end the concept of long-haul flight – being able to complete longer journeys in just a few hours. The world’s longest direct commercial flight is currently the 9,537-mile journey from New York’s JFK Airport to Singapore – about 19 hours. Flying at top speed, the Hyper Sting could make the trip in just three hours and 40 minutes. It could also do other popular routes such as London to Beijing in less than two hours or London to Perth in three and a half hours. The Hyper Sting would be propelled at incredible speeds by two ramjet engines powered by a small nuclear reactor. And it will be powered by theoretical cold fusion technology. The theoretical power source allows for nuclear reactions at room temperature and produces enormous amounts of electricity. It’s the latest project from Spanish designer Oscar Vinals, who previously unveiled planes for the Sky Whale and Big Bird mega-aircraft. But with this idea he’s lowering his ambitions, but hopes the concept could help bring back the era of ultra-high-speed travel. There hasn’t been a commercial supersonic airliner since the last Concorde was retired in 2003 after 27 years of service. The Concorde was a revolutionary British and French design – but was ultimately killed by high ticket costs, low passenger numbers, noise and safety concerns. A new era of supersonic flight may be upon us Oscar Vinals Since then many planners have speculated about the return of supersonic mass transport – but no one has yet taken the plunge. Oscar hopes his Hyper Sting concept will help solve some of the problems with hypersonic travel – while also being bigger and faster than Concorde. “Concorde was a brilliant piece of machinery, a noble experiment, but it put too many emissions into the environment, too much noise in our communities and was too expensive to operate,” he told Sun Online. “A new era of supersonic flight may be upon us, but there are challenges to overcome when it comes to flying faster than the speed of sound. “The ‘Hyper Sting’ is a new concept for future supersonic commercial airplanes.” Oscar gave the prototype airplane its name because of its extra-long sting-like nose cone – known as the ‘Active Airflow Booster Nose’. 7 The plane is expected to carry up to 170 passengersCredit: OSCAR VINALS 7 The aircraft has a unique ‘triangle’ design Credit: OSCAR VINALS 7 The long “sting” nose cone is designed to reduce sonic boomsCredit: OSCAR VINALS 7 The aircraft could fly from London to New York in 80 minutes Working with the unique “triangle” design of the wings, the nose would be covered with thrusters to dampen the sound of sonic booms. The “squeeze” would control the pressure and speed of the air flow to reduce the sound of the rumbles that accompanied the Concorde. Oscar hopes the unique wing shape could rotate to allow low-speed takeoffs and landings on short runways. And the aircraft would be covered in solar cells to help run the plane’s systems – including an artificial intelligence (AI) to assist the pilots. The plane will also have laser guidance systems for takeoff and landing. It will be made of lightweight materials to further help improve the efficiency of the plane and reduce costs for passengers. Oscar said: “The concept of the ‘Hyper Sting’ aims to become, in some ways, different from other future concepts due to the incorporation of innovative solutions. “Such as a new fuselage geometry (central body) with active variable geometry wings, a new concept system to reduce the sonic boom, a new system to generate power for the airplane, a new engine concept, a new aerodynamic device, capable of it generates for itself energy and also a new guidance system.’
