On July 25th, 2000, a supersonic passenger jet, Concorde, took off from Charles de Gaulle
Airport in Paris for New York. As soon as it took off, it collided with a nearby airport hotel, resulting in the loss
of 109 passengers, pilots, and cabin crew, who were all burned to ashes
And all this happened because that plane was a supersonic passenger jet
At that time, everyone had the same opinion, from global leaders to common people
Everyone wanted to prove this, because it is about 22 years before, in the year 1978
a similar incident happened with Russia's Topolev Tu-144 supersonic passenger jet, with
the same fault during takeoff and deadly landing. This incident made a statement that these supersonic passenger flights, due to their
large structure, are not able to handle the changes in air pressure, and that is why their
engines burst on the spot as soon as they take off. But was this truly the case
Well, according to NASA, all these narratives were spread under a conspiracy
In reality, NASA observed that in the entire 27 years of operating history of Concorde
the accident of the year 2000, this was the only accident that took someone's life
If we compare it to other commercial flights, accidents happen more frequently in ordinary
commercial flights. NASA also observed that some of Europe's top novelists, actors, and media outlets have
been running an anti-Concorde project against flights like Concorde since the 60s because
of the sound of the sonic boom of the planes. NASA clearly understood that people are rejecting the concept of these supersonic planes because
they do not like the sound of the planes, which if seen technically, is a repairable fault
With this thought in mind, NASA made a prototype with the famous aircraft manufacturing company
Lockheed Martin, and developed this supersonic X-59 aircraft. After finishing, it looks like this
NASA claimed that when the X-59 broke the sound barrier, its sonic boom sounded like this
Moreover, this aircraft is so fast that you can travel from the UK to Australia in just
1.5 hours. Hard to believe this, right? Because in the past, there used to be many complaints from passengers on Concorde flights
that the plane traveled very fast, but the noise from it was also very loud and dangerous
and there was a strong shock inside. However, in those days, the structure of supersonic planes was designed in such a way that the
maximum focus was only on achieving speed. They didn't think about how to reduce the sonic boom and shock waves generated by it
Let me explain to you with an animation what I'm trying to say. Just look at this dot and imagine that this is a supersonic plane
You can see that as this plane starts reaching the speed of sound, the air in front of it
starts getting compressed with pressure. As soon as the plane breaks the sound barrier due to the release of pressure, shock waves
start forming on the plane. Although this problem may seem quite dangerous, you know what
NASA has solved this issue just by changing the seating position of the passengers
All the supersonic planes made till now have been designed so that the passengers would
have to sit here. Now, in such a situation, when these planes fly at supersonic speed, the nose and wings
of these planes used to collide with the air, causing passengers sitting near them
to feel strong shock waves. But now just look at NASA's updated design
Here it's clear that the pilot and passengers will sit far behind the nose but ahead of
the wings. Due to this design, almost the entire plane will pass the sound barrier smoothly, piercing
through like a needle, and then its wings will start producing slight shock waves
Interesting, right? Well that's only half the truth because the reason for creating this plane is not
solely NASA's hard work, but also the rivalry between the US and Germany plays a significant role
Now, you might be wondering, what could be the reason for such rivalry in creating a
supersonic jet? Before designing the X-59, there was a competition between the US and Germany to see who could
create the most advanced planes. As a result of this competition, they developed a supersonic plane named Overture, capable
of covering the distance from Delhi to New York in seven hours
The US claimed that their plane could reach Mach 1.7, meaning 2,100 kilometers per hour
or 1.7 times the speed of sound. However, Germany noticed flaws in the US design
According to the Germans, Overture, which utilizes a compound delta design, will have
most of the area of the wings come in contact with the air. With such a design, the plane will experience more air drag during flight, and the opposition
of this track will help the plane maintain the speed of sound. And as a result, planes will have to use a lot of fuel
Germany learned from these mistakes and came up with its own design called single delta
By reducing the wing area, Germany naturally reduced the air drag. But then the Germans also thought, why not further reduce air drag by flying the plane
in thinner air? This would decrease air drag and allow the plane to maintain supersonic speeds
By implementing this solution, the Germans directly created a hypersonic plane called
the Space Liner, which is three times faster than the Overture. The Overture flies 1.7 times faster than the speed of sound, meaning that it takes three
hours and 30 minutes to fly from London to New York. In contrast, the Space Liner will cover three times the distance, allowing it to fly from
London to Sydney in just one hour and 30 minutes. This is possible because the takeoff of the Space Liner will be exactly like a rocket
meaning it will launch vertically into the atmosphere. Then as soon as it reaches a certain height, it will travel horizontally at hypersonic
speed toward its destination. Another interesting aspect of both these planes is that the engine they will use is the same
as that of a normal jet, with just a few modifications. To understand what exactly will change in it, let's first understand the workings
of a jet engine in simple language. This is a jet engine consisting of the fan, compressor, fuel injector, combustion chamber
turbine, and nozzle. When the plane starts, the fans installed in it draw air inside and bring it toward
the compressor. The compressor then compresses the air, increasing its pressure and temperature
Then this hot air reaches the combustion chamber, where fuel is added with the help
of fuel injectors. As soon as the fuel is added, the air-fuel mixture reaches a high temperature and moves
towards the turbine. This air is then expelled very quickly through the nozzle, propelling the plane forward
But there is a catch. As the plane starts moving forward at high speed, the speed of air entering its engine
also increases, which can damage the blades and engine. To prevent this damage, the U.S. removed two parts of the engine, the fan, compressor
and turbine, and redesigned the Overture engine as a ramjet. Normally in an engine, if the speed of the air does not decrease by the time it reaches
the combustion chamber, then even before combustion starts, that air exits the engine
But this will not happen now. After the supersonic air enters the engine, it will first become subsonic upon hitting
the inner body of the engine, and then after that, fuel will be added to it
Now because the speed of the air inside the engine will be slightly less than the speed
of sound, it will expand and exit at supersonic speed. But there was another issue
By removing a moving part of the engine, the problem of shockwaves was solved
However, now due to the speed being subsonic, there was a limitation on the speed of the Overture
The Germans took advantage of this and made some changes to the engine
They thought that the problems were due to the material, so why not make the material thinner
That's why to travel at high speed, the Germans made the inner body of the ramjet very thin
and created a hypersonic jet engine, the scramjet. Due to the thinness of the inner body, the supersonic air can enter the combustion chamber
without colliding with anything and accelerate straight to supersonic speed. After this, combustion should not take place outside the engine
Hence liquid hydrogen will be used in it because liquid hydrogen burns instantly
Since only supersonic air is being combusted in it, the air that will be thrown outside
the engine will also be supersonic. This allows the plane to travel fast
This means the space liner plane is a hybrid of a rocket and a plane because it takes off
like a rocket and uses rocket fuel. On the other hand, if I talk about the US, they have surpassed the Germans
The Overture is going to create its fuel by directly using the carbon dioxide present
in the air. It will react to the carbon dioxide with water to produce sustainable fuel
I have explained this entire process in detail in this video. By understanding the development phases and mistakes of these two plans, NASA has developed
its X-59 plane, which will revolutionize travel in the future. So what do you think about this wonderful plane
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See you next time. Till then, stay curious, keep learning and keep growing