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| Boeing dream plane cNASA/The Boeing Co. |
Check out The Huffington Post on Yahoo! News on the designs of next-generation commercial airplanes. They are as fanciful as they are futuristic but the good news about them is that three giant aircraft manufacturers are actually serious building these concepts, each with a grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA. Lockheed Martin, The Boeing Company and Northrop Grumman are doing research and will test their own design this year, with the following mission profile from NASA:
- quiet, energy-efficient aircraft
- to fly up to Mach 0.85
- with a range of 7,000 miles, and
- can carry payload of about 50,000 to 100,000 lbs
But don't get too excited yet. NASA expects these futuristic concepts to be ready around 2025.
