Facts and figures

HEXAFLY is a Level 0 collaborative project for small or medium scale focused research projects through the 7th Framework under Theme 7: Transport.

HEXAFLY Overview MotivationCivil high-speed transportation has always been hampered by the lack of range potential or a too high fuel consumption stemming from a too low cruise efficiency. Indeed, looking into the performance of classically designed high-speed vehicles, their performances drop nearly linearly with flight Mach number. Over the last years, however, radical new vehicle concepts were proposed and conceived having a strong potential to alter this trend. This innovative approach is based upon a well elaborated integration of a highly efficient propulsion unit with a high-lifting vehicle concept. The realization of both a high propulsive and aerodynamic efficiency is based upon the minimization of kinetic jet losses while striving to the best uniformity but minimal induced velocity for lift creation.