I Believe I Can Fly

How would you like to get from London to New York in an hour? Now how about getting there while zero polluting emissions into the atmosphere? That dream is becoming reality as EADS is revealing their new ZEHST hypersonic jet. The plane will use jet engines powered by seaweed in order to life off the ground but once it gets going, rocket engines fueled by hydrogen will take it to speeds that allow the jet to go above the atmosphere. Once in place, scramjets which are used only currently in missiles will take this marvel to an altitude of 20 miles (compared to 6 of the normal passenger jet) and a top speed of 3,125mph or roughly 4 times the speed of sound. The only emission will be water from the hydrogen powered rocket engines.The catch to all this magical sounding technology is that we will have to wait 40 years or so before the first one is built. The materials are available right now but the cost would be in the billions for just one plane and so it wouldn't be economically feasible.

I certainly hope to see more ideas like this floating around. With the world hitting an oil crisis and gas prices skyrocketing anything that can cut down on the need for fossil fuels while providing for more efficient means of travel is welcome in my book. It is only saddening that it will take so long for the first plane to be built but that is the cost that comes with progress. What are your thoughts on this new marvel of engineering? Leave the comments in the area below and be sure to give a good liking to that follow button on the right.