Aerion lays out vision for clean-energy supersonic and hypersonic flight
Fledgling airframer Aerion has a much broader ambition than only developing its supersonic AS2 business jet. Chief executive Tom Vice views the 8-10-passenger AS2 as a first step that will position Aerion to develop a new generation of clean-energy supersonic and hypersonic civil aircraft.
Central to that plan, called ‘Aerion 2050’, are hybrid-electric and all-electric aircraft.“This is a long-term, multi-decade view,”Vice says. “Some of these technologies will take those kinds of timeframes to mature.” Vice thinks that by 2040, transport aircraft will be speeding through the skies at between Mach 3.8 and 4.5 and that technology will allow for hypersonic speeds greater than M5.0. “I think when we get to 2040, we will see point-to-point travel in the order of LA to Tokyo in 2 two hours,” he says.
Vice thinks all-electric supersonic aircraft will be flying by 2050: “That is probably the most challenging thing I see on the horizon.” An engineer by education and a Northrop Grumman veteran, Vice thinks Reno-based Aerion will lead that future, solving critical technical problems. He states: “Engineers must develop means to protect aircraft from intense heat associated with hypersonic flight; ‘active cooling’ technologies and ‘non-ablative high-temperature’ skins are likely solutions.”
Electric flight will require new breeds of high-cycle, energy-dense batteries, perhaps with a lithium-air chemistry and a means to dissipate excess heat. Engineers must also figure how to adjust an electric aircraft’s centre of gravity during the sub- to supersonic transition, which traditional designs accomplish through fuel transfer. “We will invent that technology”, Vice says. “One of the things that is extremely important to Aerion is that we do not leave a carbon footprint.”
The AS2 business jet powered by triple GE Aviation Affinity engines that Aerion targets will have 4,200nm (7,780km) range at M1.4 and 5,400nm range at M0.95. Aerion hopes the AS2 will achieve first flight in 2024 and service entry in 2026, though Vice concedes the coronavirus pandemic could cause delay. Funded by businessman Robert Bass and Boeing, Aerion aims to raise more capital late this year or early next. The company also plans to move to Melbourne, Florida, where it will build a new design and manufacturing site called ‘Aerion Park.’
Aerion and other supersonic designers such as Spike Aerospace and Boom Supersonic face many hurdles. As a start, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) bans overland supersonic civil flights, although it is working to ease restrictions considering advanced means of lessening sonic booms. Supersonics, typically powered by loud lower-bypass engines, must also meet take-off and landing noise limits being developed by the FAA.
Spike Aerospace and others are using advanced designs and aircraft shapes to reduce sonic booms. However, the AS2 will leverage ‘Mach cut-off’ when atmospheric conditions deflect booms up, not down, letting AS2 achieve M1.2 without ‘any sound on the ground. AS2’s Affinity engines can burn synthetic fuel produced using ‘direct air capture’, a process that extracts carbon dioxide from the air.
Though distribution and commercialisation challenges remain, CO2 can be combined with hydrogen to create clean fuel. Aerion sees an opportunity to develop airliner AS2 variants to serve ‘high-demand, high-profit city pairs.’ Such an aircraft could give airlines a product sitting between the exclusivity of a charter and a traditional first-class seat. Vice also thinks AS2’s high-altitude, supersonic cruise would make it a valuable military-surveillance platform. “There is really a lot more to Aerion than a single product offering,” he says.