“Up in the sky, look: It’s a bird. It’s a plane.” “Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive!”
Although the aforementioned quotes reference Superman, they are equally spot-on at describing Skreemr, a new Supersonic Concept Craft designed to allow travelers to get to far-off destinations in less than an hour! The brainchild of industrial designers Charles Bombardier and Ray Mattison, the vehicle of the future is designed to travel at Mach 10, which for those not in the know, is super-duper fast. So fast, in fact, a trip from New York to London which would normally take over six hours, would be shortened to a mere 30 minutes!
While its name may sound like a new Six Flags ride, Skreemr is actually named for the sound its shockwave would generate, coupled with the word “banshee.”
Forbes explains the futuristic hybrid — one Bombardier says would classify as a new kind of vehicle, ““Perhaps it could be called a traincraft.”
The “traincraft” is “a hovering locomotive morphing into a jet once it reaches the sea, employing an electric-powered magnetic railgun system and a pair of hydrogen-fueled rockets to catapult itself into the clouds at supersonic speed. Scramjet engines would then propel the commercial craft deeper into the sky at 7,672 miles per hour—nearly six times faster than the legendary Concorde.”
The vehicle would ideally fly at an altitude ranging between 40,000 and 60,000 feet—higher than the typical commercial jetliner and be able to carry 75 passengers.
Lest you rush right out to get your tickets, sadly right now Skreemr is just a fantasy. In theory it’s fab, but in execution, not so much…yet.
Bombardier explains he and Mattison are not sure whether the materials which could withstand the flight at that speed exist yet; the cost would be prohibitive — far exceeding the $32 billion it took to develop the Boeing 787; and they have not yet figured out the craft’s optimal shape to combat the ensuing mid-flight shockwave it would generate.
“This concept is first and foremost a way to make people dream about what lies ahead in terms of air travel—to ignite imaginations,” Bombardier enthuses. “I don’t think the Skreemr will be developed in our lifetime, but in the future, who knows?”