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Zhang Tong

A Chinese company says it has conducted a test flight of a prototype commercial transport plane that can travel at Mach 4 – or twice the speed of a Concorde.
Space Transportation, which is headquartered in Beijing, on Sunday said its Yunxing prototype had successfully completed the test flight a day earlier.
The company, also known as Lingkong Tianxing Technology, said a follow-up assessment of its engine technology would take place in November.
It aims to have a full-sized supersonic passenger jet ready to take its maiden flight in 2027.
According to the company, that aircraft will be able to whisk passengers from Beijing to New York in about two hours, at a cruising speed of more than four times the speed of sound.


The last civilian supersonic jet was the Concorde, developed jointly by French and British aerospace companies. It entered service in 1976, cruising at twice the speed of sound until it was retired in 2003.
The Concorde had four turbojet engines and could perform horizontal take-offs and landings, flying at altitudes of 60,000 feet (about 18,300 metres).
With more aerospace technology incorporated into its design, the Yunxing supersonic jet can travel twice as fast, take-off and landing is vertical, and it can reach altitudes above 20,000 metres (about 65,600 feet), according to its developer.
An animation on the company’s website shows how the Yunxing moves in a similar way to stone skimming. Qian Xuesen, the engineer known as the “father of Chinese aerospace”, used this concept to explain hypersonic flight as skipping from one point on the globe to another like a stone being skimmed.
The Space Transportation animation shows the Yunxing being sent into the sky by a booster, which then separates from the aircraft. The aircraft then glides for a long distance. As it nears its destination, it glides to reduce its speed to subsonic levels before its liquid rocket engine ignites for a secondary deceleration to achieve a vertical landing.

The company – which also develops hypersonic flight technology and services – says it has completed multiple tests of the active deceleration and vertical landing technique.
Space Transportation was founded in China’s southwestern Sichuan province in 2018 and has R&D and manufacturing centres in Beijing and Xian, in Shaanxi, as well as in Anhui province. The company also has a test base in the far west of the country in Korla, Xinjiang.
The company’s research and development plans include technology validation platforms, suborbital space tourism vehicles, and global hypersonic flight vehicles. It has provided hypersonic technology services to the military, universities and research institutes, and worked on rocket development and test flights with several universities.
That includes taking part in the Feitian 1 hypersonic aircraft project led by Northwestern Polytechnical University. That aircraft completed a test flight in 2022.

On Saturday, several key technologies of the Yunxing supersonic jet were put to the test, including its aerodynamics, thermal protection and control systems.
In terms of aerodynamics, the Yunxing has a high lift-to-drag ratio – so as altitude increases and air density decreases it maintains an efficient performance, making the flight more economical and comfortable.
Thermal protection is also important. During high-speed flight, the aircraft’s surface undergoes continuous aerodynamic heating, with temperatures exceeding 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,832 Fahrenheit). Materials and structures that are lightweight, high-strength and heat-resistant are critical. The company said that the all-composite structure successfully withstood these extreme conditions during the test flight.
The prototype’s flight control system, avionics and structural strength were also evaluated.
Space Transportation has said it aims to develop supersonic aircraft that can be used for global commercial flights and affordable space tourism.
Its vice-president, Shen Haibin, said in a 2021 interview with NetEase that the company hoped to carry out a maiden crewed flight for suborbital space tourism by 2025 and to achieve high-speed global transport by 2030.
“The company aims to reduce the cost of space tourism tickets from Virgin Galactic’s US$450,000 to 450,000 Chinese yuan [US$63,180],” Shen was quoted as saying.


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Chinese plane designed to travel twice as fast as Concorde completes test flight

A follow-up assessment of the Yunxing prototype’s engine technology will be carried out in November. Photo: Weibo/YunXing

Take-off and landing is vertical, and the aircraft has been designed to reach altitudes above 20,000 metres. Photo: Weibo/YunXing

The supersonic jet will be able to take passengers from Beijing to New York in about two hours, according to its developer. Photo: Weibo/YunXing

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China

After testing prototype, Space Transportation says it aims to have a full-sized supersonic passenger jet ready for its maiden flight in 2027


After testing prototype, Space Transportation says it aims to have a full-sized supersonic passenger jet ready for its maiden flight in 2027.
