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Agence France-Presse

Space tourism company Virgin Galactic on Monday announced a partnership with engine-maker Rolls-Royce to build a supersonic commercial plane that flies at three times the speed of sound.
The aircraft would travel at Mach 3 – rather than the Mach 2 speed of Concorde, the pioneering jet that operated from 1976 to 2003.
Any new supersonic plane would have to solve the problems that doomed Concorde, in particular noise and fuel consumption.
“We are excited to … unveil this initial design concept of a high speed aircraft, which we envision as blending safe and reliable commercial travel with an unrivalled customer experience,” said George Whitesides, chief space officer at Virgin Galactic.
The aircraft’s draft design showed a plane with a triangular “delta wing” carrying between nine and 19 passengers at an altitude of more than 60,000 feet, or 18,000 meters – about twice as high as normal commercial flight.

The plane would take off and land at existing airport runways.
Virgin Galactic said its team would “work to address key challenges in thermal management, maintenance, noise, emissions, and economics that routine high speed commercial flights would entail”.
The company signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Rolls-Royce to develop an engine for the aircraft.
Virgin Galactic’s main focus this far has been its part-plane, part-rocket craft that is being developed to carry tourists to the edge of space.
Virgin Galactic shows off spaceship cabin fit for the rich
It is awaiting more test flights, and no launch date for commercial journeys has been set.
The company, which was listed on the stock exchange last year, is seeking to diversify and in May it announced an agreement with Nasa to develop high-speed technology.
Nasa has also been working for decades on a silent supersonic experimental aircraft, the X-59. A first prototype is being built by Lockheed-Martin in California.
The project hopes to make the supersonic boom – the explosion caused by crossing the sound barrier -almost inaudible on the ground.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg



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Aviation

Virgin wants to revive supersonic jet travel, but faster at Mach 3

Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic Holdings will work with engine maker Rolls-Royce Holdings to develop a plane that can travel at three times the speed of sound. Photo: AFP

This undated illustraion obtained August 3, 2020,courtesy of Virgin Galactic shows the Mach 3 Aircraft design for high speed travel. - Space company Virgin Galactic on August 3, 2020 announced a preliminary partnership with engine maker Rolls Royce to build an airliner capable of flying at three times the speed of sound. Only the Concorde had, from 1976 to 2003, regularly transported passengers in the history of air transport. Virgin Galactic wants to go faster (Mach 3 instead of Mach 2 for the Concorde), but will have to solve the problems that have doomed the Concorde, in particular noise and fuel consumption. (Photo by Handout / Virgin Galactic/The Spaceship Company / AFP) / -----EDITORS NOTE --- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / VIRGIN GALACTIC " - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS - NO ARCHIVES / TO GO WITH AFP STORY - "Virgin Galactic wants to build a supersonic aircraft"

Virgin Galactic shows off spaceship cabin fit for the rich

The cabin was designed to give the best possible view of our planet. Photo: AP

Image courtesy of Virgin Galactic obtained July 28, 2020 shows the Virgin Galactic spaceship cabin design and seats. - Virgin Galactic revealed the cabin interior of its first SpaceshipTwo vehicle, VSS Unity in a virtual livestreamed event on Tuesday. Each seat has been engineered to match the dynamism of the flight. A pilot-controlled recline mechanism, optimally positions astronauts to manage G- forces on boost and re-entry and frees up cabin space to maximize an unrestricted astronaut float zone when in zero gravity. (Photo by Handout / Virgin Galactic/The Spaceship Company / AFP) / -----EDITORS NOTE --- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / VIRGIN GALACTIC " - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS - NO ARCHIVES

This May 29, 2018 handout photograph obtained courtesy of Virgin Galactic shows the Virgin Spaceship (VSS) Unity. - The two companies leading the pack in the pursuit of space tourism say they are just months away from their first out-of-this-world passenger flights -- though neither has set a firm date. Virgin Galactic, founded by British billionaire Richard Branson, and Blue Origin, by Amazon creator Jeff Bezos, are racing to be the first to finish their tests -- with both companies using radically different technology. (Photo by HO / Virgin Galactic / AFP) / With AFP Story by Ivan COURONNE: First space tourist flights could come in 2019 == RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE / MANDATORY CREDIT: "AFP PHOTO / VIRGIN GALACTIC" / NO MARKETING / NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS / DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS ==

Breakthrough as Virgin Galactic launches humans into space, a US first since the end of shuttle programme

A scene from the cabin of SpaceShipTwo on Thursday, looking down on Earth from an altitude of about 50 miles (80km). Photo: Virgin Galactic

In this Jan. 11, 2018 photo provided by Virgin Galactic, the VSS Unity is released from the WhiteKnightTwo aircraft during a gliding test for SpaceShipTwo near Mojave, Calif. The spaceship isn’t launched from the ground but is carried beneath the special aircraft to an altitude around 50,000 feet (15,240 meters). There, it’s released before igniting its rocket engine and climbing. (Virgin Galactic via AP)

Workers at the Virgin Galactic headquarters work on a spaceplane that is scheduled to launch on Thursday. MUST CREDIT: Washington Post photo by Jonathan Newton.

Richard Branson watches the take off of Virgin Galactic’s carrier airplane carrying a space tourism rocket plane toward space from Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California,U.S. December 13, 2018. REUTERS/Eric Johnson

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Delta-winged aircraft would fly at an altitude above 60,000 feet and carry between nine and 16 people in a premium cabin
The plane would take off and land like any other passenger plane at existing airports



The delta-winged aircraft would fly at an altitude above 60,000 feet and carry between nine and 16 people in a premium cabin.


Space

Virgin wants to revive supersonic jet travel, but faster at Mach 3

Delta-winged aircraft would fly at an altitude above 60,000 feet and carry between nine and 16 people in a premium cabin The plane would take off and land like any other passenger plane at existing airports

Delta-winged aircraft would fly at an altitude above 60,000 feet and carry between nine and 16 people in a premium cabin

The plane would take off and land like any other passenger plane at existing airports