Hypersonic aircraft startup Hermius has designed the Chimera Dual Purpose Engine, which can convert from turbojet to ramjet in flight, to reduce flights from London to New York to three hours by 2029. Hermius has been developing ways to simulate high-speed, high-pressure Mark 4 flight environments, and its platform is the Chimera engine, capable of gradually switching between operating as a turbojet engine and a ramjet engine. Founder and CEO AJ Piplica said Hermius is focusing on proving out its technology with military aircraft before developing a passenger aircraft, with one-way tickets costing $3,000.
1. Hypersonic aircraft startup Hermius claims their quarter horse Jets will be traveling above Mark IV, four times the speed of sound.
2. The Chimera engine is capable of converting from turbojet to a Ramjet in flight.
3. Hermius is targeting a flight cost of $3000 for a one-way ticket between New York and London.
4. The company plans to first prove out their technology with military aircraft before developing a passenger aircraft, which will take a decade to develop.
5. Hermius is developing ways to simulate high-speed, high-pressure flight environments for testing.
6. Parts of the aircraft will be made of materials that perform well at high temperatures, such as titanium and Inconel.
7. The Chimera engine employs a pre-cooler system and gradually switches over to Ramjet operation to bypass inefficiencies in the turbojet.
8. The revolutionary supersonic jet Concord was grounded in 2003 due to a systemic failure in the aircraft's design.
9. SuperSonic flight was outlawed over populated areas due to the sonic boom causing damage to infrastructure.
10. Most military fighter jets can only manage top speeds of between Mark II to 2.8.
11. Once up to Mark V at 100,000 feet, the ride on Halcyon should be smooth, as the atmosphere is significantly thinner and there should not be much turbulence.