China's New "Rocket With Wings" Plane

 1 Hour Flight Beijing to New York City

                                    Source:  China Transportation

It Is Literally a Blast

Chinese aerospace company Space Transportation's new space plane is being developed to carry passengers at speeds up to 2,600 mph in suborbital space to go from "point-to-point". That includes space tourism adventures and bullet-fast aircraft flights on Earth. The company says their new technology can fly passengers from Beijing to New York City in one hour. SpaceTransportation calls the new space plane a "rocket with wings".  They say it will be a fully reusable space plane with large triangular wings with rocket boosters. The concept is a blast into suborbital space and a new form of passenger air travel to space and for travel to destinations here on Earth being developed in China.  

How Does It Work?

The winged rocket plane takes off vertically and detaches itself from the huge, triangular glider wing.  It hurtles into sub-orbital space and travels to its targeted destination, descends vertically and then lands on 3 wheels that come down from the fuselage.  The company claims it can fly two-times faster than the speed of the Concorde SST, which has been retired, and far faster than any contemporary jumbo jet.  

Time Frame For China's SST

Space Transportation is calling this vehicle an SST or supersonic transit plane.  The company says the cost is lower than rockets that carry satellites and far faster than any aircraft now close to take-off. Preliminary ground testing starts in 2023, flight tests begin in 2024 and crewed flight tests being in 2025, according to the company. They hope to have developed a fully operational prototype of the new SST by 2030. Space Transportation is also developing hypersonic jets that exceed Mach 5, the speed of sound. 

Successful US Competitors

There are several other companies chasing the target of flying passengers to any place on Earth within a few hours or reaching deeper into suborbital space for tourist visits. The aerospace companies include Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin, both headquartered in the US, with their own highly advanced space planes/vehicles that are successfully deployed.