'Stargazer', the new hypersonic jet that will take you from Tokyo to San Francisco in an hour

Texas-based Venus Aerospace is building a hypersonic aircraft that can emulate and perhaps overtake the highs achieved bythe legendary Concorde. The aircraft named 'Stargazer is expected to carry about a dozen passengers and travel at Mach 9 or nine times the speed of sound, which equates to about 8,000km/h (5,000mph).

Measuring50 feet long by 100 feet wide,Stargazer is designed to hurtle from San Francisco to Tokyo in a record one hour – 11 times faster than today’s flight time. By comparison, Concorde, which operated between 1973-2003 travelled at Mach 2 or about, 1,535 mph. The fastest aircraft ever built, Lockheed’s SR-71 “Blackbird,” travelled at Mach 3.2 (2,455 mph).

Venus co-founder and CTO Andrew Duggleby said the one-hour global transport could be turned into reality using acombination of jet and rocket engines.Duggleby said Stargazer would take off using traditional jet engines but once it is away from the urban dwellings, it would employ rocket engines to climb to170,000 feet and reach hypersonic speeds.

"Stargazer will take off from a primary airport with jet engines, then when away from city-center, our rocket engine will propel passengers gently to 170,000 feet and Mach 9, crossing 5000 miles in 1 hour. San Francisco to Japan. Houston To London. All with a 2-hour turn-around," the company claims on its website.

Speaking about how the idea of developing a hypersonic jet came into being, SassieDuggleby, wife of Andrew, as well as chief executive officer at Venus Aerospace referred to an incident from 2018.

“We were on deployment in Japan when we were looking out at Tokyo Bay one afternoon and Andrew turned to me and said there’s this new rocket engine coming down the pipeline,” Sassie said. “And, he said if it’s ever proven, then we can put it on a plane and be home in an hour.”

Technology breakthrough needed

However, reaching the ambitious target is not as easy as it seems. Venus will require a technological breakthrough ifStargazer is to complete theSan Francisco to Tokyo journey. The company will have to developthe “world’s first liquid-propellant rotating detonation rocket engine”.Currently, rocket engines burn subsonically which is not enough to power Stargazer's Mach 9 speed.

“Rotating detonation means the supersonic combustion happens continuously inside the engine and our video shows the detonation wave moving around the engine at supersonic speeds,” said Andrew.

(With inputs from agencies)

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