Chinese Firm “Space Transportation” Tested a Mach 4 Commercial Aircraft

Ever since the last Concorde flight took place in 2003, humanity has dreamt of another aircraft capable of supersonic flights. Unsurprisingly, because flying from New York to London took less than three hours. Still, the Concorde also had high operational costs, limited passenger capacity, and produced a disturbing sonic boom. Fortunately, multiple companies are working on a modern Concorde alternative that would solve all those issues, while flying at even higher velocities.

Among them, a Chinese company, named Space Transportation, says it already tested a commercial airliner capable of Mach 4, or more than 3,000 mph. That’s twice as fast as the Concorde (Mach 2, or 1,330 mph), meaning even shorter international flights. According to the company, which also goes by the name Beijing Lingkong Tianxing Technology in China, the new “Yunxing” airliner will need only 2 hours to fly from Beijing to New York. 

Meanwhile, as reported by China’s Space Transformation, the first test was positive and showed that the body had excellent structural rigidity, thanks to the use of composite materials. Still, this new aircraft offers many more advanced features, such as vertical take-off and landing, making Yunxing a supersonic VTOL. It can also fly at heights of 20,000 meters (65,600 feet), higher than the Concorde, which flew at 18,300 meters (60,000 feet).

Interestingly, Space Transportation was founded in 2018 by Yudong Wang, making the latest feat even more impressive. Last year, the company also raised $46.3 million for its supersonic, Mach 4 aircraft. This financial boost will help it make follow-up tests on the engines and have a flight-ready, full-size aircraft by 2027.

Meanwhile, Beijing Lingkong Tianxing Technology also works on space planes designed for suborbital tourism. These hypersonic “rockets with wings,” called Tianxing 1 and Tianxing 2, won’t reach orbit but can transport passengers from point to point much more quickly than even supersonic aircraft. The company already successfully conducted multiple tests on these hypersonic rockets.

Photo by Rafael Garcin on Unsplash