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A new era of sustainable supersonic travel is a step closer to take-off.
More than the aircraft of tomorrow, Aerion is building the global transportation networks of the future and the AS2® supersonic business jet is just the beginning. The AS2® is set to become the world's first supersonic business jet and the first certified aircraft designed for net zero CO2 operating emissions. Cruising at speeds of 1000mph with a new standard in luxury cabin experience, the AS2® opens to the door to Aerion's pursuit of removing the barriers of time and distance through faster and sustainable point-to-point travel.
Over the last 12 months, Aerion has met several key milestones as development of the AS2® accelerates towards manufacturing start in 2023. In this first Aerion newsletter we look back at some of those key moments and look forward to more blue skies ahead.
The future is almost here.
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To make sustainable supersonic travel a reality Aerion has assembled a global team of partners comprising some of the most accomplished and respected names in aerospace development.
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Bloomberg reported that Aerion Park will comprise a new global HQ, production facility and flight test center for the AS2® and future Aerion aircraft. The $300 million campus is expected to create 675 jobs.
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A crucial part of Aerion's "Green Speed" initiative fell into place with the company's partnership with Carbon Engineering, a leading Direct Air Capture (DAC) company. As explained in MIT Technology Review, we will work to develop fuel sources aimed at making the AS2® a truly carbon-neutral supersonic jet.
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Edward Neveril, Senior Director of Enterprise Corporate Development at The Boeing Company, joined Aerion's board of directors over the summer. Neveril deepens the industry experience of Aerion's board, which also includes former executives from Pratt & Whitney and Northrop Grumman.
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In a major show of support for the AS2® as the future of supersonic travel, Space Florida, the state's aerospace economic agency, committed to a major investment in the Aerion Park campus. This investment demonstrates Florida's commitment to becoming the epicenter of aerospace development.
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After testing millions of digital models using digital twin technology explained in Forbes, the AS2® SBJ took physical model form in September as Aerion prepared for high-speed wind tunnel testing to gain invaluable feedback on its design. The company partnered with French Aerospace experts ONERA to prepare for testing.
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Aerion is not only focused on how much time customers will save traveling between cities but also how much time it takes to reach your final destination. In October, it partnered with Electra.Aero, which is developing electric short takeoff and landing (eSTOL) vehicles to make the trip from an AS2® aircraft a breeze.
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Aerion completed wind tunnel validation in two of the world's best aerospace testing facilities located in France and the US. Simple Flying reported on the successful effort, which involved more than 1,000 individual wind tunnel tests with models of the AS2® flying more than 72,000 nautical miles and amassing an astounding 200,000 in-flight data points to refine the AS2® preliminary design.
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Aerion secured a key component of its AS2® Boomless Cruise™ technology by partnering with Spire Global, a space-powered Earth information company. Spire's cutting-edge predictive modeling will enable the AS2® SBJ to optimize flight-planning and fuel calculation, enabling it to harness Mach cut-off phenomenology to provide supersonic speed without a boom reaching the ground.
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Just months after the state-of-the-art campus was announced, the company started development. With AS2® planned to enter production at the facility in 2023, Aerion enters 2021 hard at work in building its world class aerospace design, production, and testing facility at Aerion Park.
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