Airbus has patented an "ultra-rapid air vehicle" that would move at more than four times the speed of sound, making the trip from NYC to London in under two hours.
The super-sleek aircraft -- which was granted an official U.S. patent last month -- would take off near-vertically, almost like a rocket, at supersonic speeds. The patent was unearthed by PatentYogi's Deepak Gupta, who seems particularly enthused by the concept in the video above.
Though Gupta and other reports have said the flight to London could happen in as little as an hour, CBC News notes the plane wouldn't be traveling at Mach 4.5 speed the entire time. But the newly patented plane would still take just a fraction of the seven hours it typically takes to fly between the two cities today.
Inside the jet, there would be room for approximately 20 passengers, according to patent filings. The aircraft would have a system of motors that includes at least one ramjet, at least one turbojet and a rocket motor.
The sad part about the design? Airbus did not indicate that it has any immediate plans to make the plane. "Airbus Group and its divisions apply for hundreds of patents every year in order to protect intellectual property," an Airbus spokesperson told The Huffington Post. "These patents are often based on R&D concepts and ideas in a very nascent stage of conceptualization, and not every patent progresses to becoming a fully realized technology or product."
Last year, the company filed patents for a "flying doughnut" and passenger isolation helmets. Much to our dismay, neither has to come to fruition.
But we can still dream about a one-hour flight to London, right? There's no telling how expensive a ticket on the "rocket jet" would be, but if the Concorde was any indication, it would cost a pretty penny. We might start saving up, just in case.
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