Technology
The Colorado startup dreaming up a return to supersonic flight – Engadget
In less than 50 days, we’ll see the test plane for a future supersonic airliner. In a year, we could see it fly for the first time. After that? Who knows.
Concorde had no on-board computer and had a movable nose; Such was the angle of attack upon landing that Concorde’s nose had to drop in order for the pilots to see where the ground was. The XB-1 ditches that in favor of cameras on the nose and landing gear, hopefully reducing complexity. And the plane’s design has been refined (in a virtual simulator) to ensure a high fineness ratio, a fancy way of saying the plane is shaped narrow and pointy to reduce drag at high speeds.
XB-1 will be piloted…
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