NASA aims to develop 'eco-friendly' supersonic aircraft

WASHINGTON: NASA is spending over USD 6 million to fund research into greener and quieter supersonic aircraft that could dramatically reduce flight times for passengers.

The largest awards of the first round of funding have gone to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Wyle Laboratories, a research contractor in Virginia, to investigate the environmental impact of commercial supersonic flight and to address sonic booms.

MIT's study will be looking into updating the environmental impact models created for NASA in the 1980s and 1990s, 'Quartz' reported.

While many modern fighter jets have the ability to fly faster than the speed of sound, the environmental impact is relatively small, because there are not that many fighter jets in operation.

NASA said that supersonic jets travel at higher altitudes than regular jets, closer to the stratosphere, and so they have a greater potential to damage the ozone layer.

Another major part of the funds went into research on how to make supersonic travel quieter.

NASA told 'Quartz' that it has already had some "pretty outstanding success" in past attempts to reduce sonic booms - thunder-like noise caused by an object moving faster than sound.

NASA believes the first business-jet-sized supersonic planes could go into production by 2025, and commercial planes by 2030.