Manufacturer Airbus Group | ||
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The Zero Emission Hyper Sonic Transport or ZEHST is a planned supersonic passenger jet airliner project by EADS and Japan. It can be seen as a descendant of the Concorde airliner capable of flying at more than Mach 4 (four times the speed of sound). The aircraft is projected to carry 50 to 100 people 32 km above the ground. Zehst would be able to fly from Paris to Tokyo in 2.5 hours, or from New York to London in an hour.
Unveiled on 18 June 2011 by EADS at Le Bourget air show, it would combine three propulsion systems: two turbofans for take-off and up to Mach 0.8, then rocket boosters up to Mach 2.5, then two underwing supersonic ramjets would accelerate it to Mach 4. The aircraft is envisaged to be propelled by biofuel made from seaweed and by oxygen/hydrogen.
Using turbofans for take off would make ZEHST no more noisy than current-day airliners. ZEHST is envisaged to fly by 2050 and would fly from London to Japan in less than 3 hours.
