Chinese hypersonic aircraft prototype reaches Mach 6 speed

Chinese scientists have launched a hypersonic aircraft with a particularly massive fuselage, reaching speeds fast enough to travel between Beijing and New York in two hours.

In its first publicly announced test flight, a small prototype of the aircraft reached a top speed of Mach 6.56 (8,100 km/h). The test provided a preliminary test of a design that was considered impossible when it was announced six years ago.

China's new hypersonic aircraft has a large, flat body and wings that spread out like a cape on its back. (Photo: Chinese Academy of Sciences).

'At that time, everyone thought this was a crazy idea. We faced a lot of skepticism,' said Cui Kai, a researcher in charge of the project at the Institute of Mechanical Engineering at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The new plane marks a major departure from the streamlined supersonic vehicles that have come before it. It has a wide fuselage and cape-like wings on its back. This means that in the future, supersonic aircraft could carry as many passengers or cargo as wide-body jets.

After a decade of development, Cui's team successfully applied for permission to test-fly the vehicle at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China's Gobi Desert in August 2021. The nearly 20-minute test flight solved a long-standing challenge for aircraft designers: as airspeeds increase, usable space inside the cabin shrinks. That's why an adult could easily bump his head while standing inside the Concorde supersonic airliner.

All current hypersonic aircraft capable of flying above Mach 5 (6,174 km/h) have extremely limited internal space, limiting their use to military applications such as missiles and unmanned reconnaissance aircraft. At high speeds, the front of the airframe is subjected to large downward pressures, affecting the vehicle's ability to climb.

Cui added a large wing surface above the airframe to convert downward pressure into upward lift, effectively turning a disadvantage into an advantage. However, it was an unprecedentedly complex design. After introducing the idea in 2018, Cui's team continued to refine the design and conduct extensive wind tunnel testing. Each test cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. The researchers conducted several ground tests to check the feasibility of multiple models, paving the way for a successful flight test.

Because of the sensitivity of the project, the test flight was kept secret for three years. Cui did not reveal the status of the full-size plane's construction or the expected date for its maiden flight. But their effort could revolutionize air travel.