Bullet plane
Japan is to test a supersonic passenger aircraft at Woomera, Australia, at the end of this month as it resumes its bid to develop Concorde’s successor.
Japan is to test a supersonic passenger aircraft at Woomera, Australia, at the end of this month as it resumes its bid to develop Concorde’s successor.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) aims to build an aircraft that can carry 300 people at twice the speed of sound, travelling between Tokyo and Los Angeles in around four hours.
The test, which will take place some time between 29 September and 15 October, is the first for three years.
A previous experimental flight of the unmanned aircraft crashed shortly after take-off.
A rocket will carry the plane to an altitude of 20km before releasing it at Mach 2 to collect aerodynamic and other performance data.
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