What will passenger airplanes be like in the future? To help brainstorm desirable and workable attributes, NASA sponsors design competitions . Shown here is an artist's depiction of a concept plane that was suggested in 2010. This futuristic plane would be expected to achieve supersonic speeds , possibly surpassing the speeds of the supersonic transport planes that ran commercially in the late twentieth century . In terms of noise reduction, the future aircraft has been drawn featuring an inverted V wing stretched over its engines. The structure is intended to reduce the sound from annoying sonic booms. Additionally, future airplanes would aim to have relatively little impact on our environment , including green limits on pollution and fuel consumption. Aircraft utilizing similar design concepts might well become operational by the 2030s.
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Illustration Credit: NASA , Lockheed Martin Co.