"Hypersonic heir to Concorde" shown at Paris Air Show

It looks a lot like the Concorde. This only shows that "the aerodynamics of the 1960s were already very smart" according to the innovation and technology director of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, EADS. He's speaking of the new "hypersonic heir to Concorde," a model of which was shown at the Paris Air Show this week. Called Zehst—Zero Emission Hypersoninc Transportation—the new plane will fly from London to NYC in about sixty minutes, emitting just water vapour, and no sonic boom.

The plane will fly at Mach 4, thanks to a three-stage propulsion system that will use liquid hydrogen for fuel: conventional jet engines for takeoff; rocket engines to propel the craft higher and faster; ramjets to takeover for cruising at a theoretical speed of 5000 km per hour. It would fly its 100 passengers above the Earth's atmosphere at a maximum altitude of 32 km, making it silent, and presumably invisible, to those below. To land, the plane would glide to a subsonic speed then reignite the turbojets to approach for a normal landing.

The company says that the plane has 40 years of development ahead before it's ready for its first commercial flight, prompting one British commentator to wonder why, if they were able to build the Concorde in the 60s, without the aid of computer design and virtual testing, they can't "pump this thing out by Christmas 2011." EADS says a demonstration model could be ready by 2020.