China's New Hypersonic Plane Could do Beijing to NY in 2 Hours

The I Plane. (China Science Press)

Your future trips around the globe might get a whole lot shorter. Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing recently announced the design of their new hypersonic "I Plane" (named because of its ‘I’ shape). The plane would be capable of hitting speeds up to Mach 7 (8640 kilometers per hour).

The I Plane has been making headlines recently, mostly due to the research team commenting that a trip from Beijing to New York would take a “couple of hours.”

No timeline was offered for production or commercial use, but critics have noted that any such plane would face a long, rigorous process of testing and regulations before being put into use.

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