The Azerbaijan State News Agency

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Green rocket plane to zip from Paris to Tokyo in 2.5hrs

20.06.2011 [15:53]
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Baku, June 20 (AZERTAC). European aerospace giant EADS on Sunday unveiled its "Zero Emission Hypersonic Transportation" ( Zehst) rocket plane it hopes will be able to fly from Paris to Tokyo in 2.5 hours by around 2050.

The low-pollution plane to carry between 50 and 100 passengers will take off using normal engines powered by biofuel made from seaweed before switching on its rocket engines. The rocket engines, powered by hydrogen and oxygen whose only exhaust is water vapour, propel the plane to a cruising altitude of 32km, compared to today`s passenger jets which fly at around 10,000 metres.

To land, the pilot cuts the engines and glides down to Earth before reigniting the regular engines before landing.

EADS hopes to have a prototype built by 2020 and for the plane to eventually enter service around 2050. The project is being developed in collaboration with Japan.