HyperSoar
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The HyperSoar is a hypersonic aircraft concept designed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory engineer Preston Carter. It is capable of flying at around Mach 12 (9200 MPH), allowing it to transit between any two points on the globe in under two hours. The HyperSoar is predicted to be a passenger plane capable of skipping outside the atmosphere. According to plans, it will use oxygen-based engines instead of hydrogen-based ones outside the atmosphere, as well as experimental jet engine technology inside it. The project is assumed to finish testing or planification in the near future, possibly as soon as 2010.
[edit] History
HyperSoar was originally conceived by the American military to be a bomber, capable of completing a mission within the space of a few hours. The original ideas saw Hypersoar as only being able to travel at (6700 MPH), but being able to skipping out of the atmosphere repeatedly. Eventually, the bomber idea was forgotten and reconceived as a passenger aircraft, and handed to the LLNL to design and build.
