Ninja Star Supersonic Plane
September 5th, 2012 | Robot, Space
NASA may be most known for its space exploration, but the organization also makes significant contributions to technology back here on Earth. $100,000 was recently awarded to The University of Miami team responsible for the Ninja Star Supersonic plane shown above.
The really interesting thing about the plane is that it can fly in 2 different orientations. One direction is specifically designed for normal, sub-sonic flight speeds, but with a quick turn of 90 degrees, it can zoom into Supersonic speed without the loud Sonic BOOM. AND, they say this plane could get you from New York to Tokyo in 4 hours!
You can see the normal, sub-sonic orientation below.
And although the aircraft is officially called the supersonic bi-directional (SBiDir) flying wing (FW), I’ll put my vote in for The Ninja Star when it comes out in about 20 years.
You can read more here.
-RSB
