The dream for hypersonic civil aircraft, jets capable of flying at 8 times the speed of sound and connecting Rome and New York in just 2 hours, is rekindled: it is called Hexa-Fly and the flight of the first prototype to be born in Italy is scheduled for 2026. It is a project of the European Space Agency, and developing the prototype that will be built from 2024 will be the Italian company Marotta, in collaboration with SolidWorld and Vection Technologies.

These are aircraft characterized by complex aerodynamics capable of withstanding the high temperatures due to re-entry flights to the edge of space, well above the routes followed by traditional aircraft, and powerful engines capable of propelling the craft up to 8 times the speed of sound. Planes that other countries have been investing in for some time now but have not yet produced concrete results.

To bridge the gap, Esa has launched the Hexa-Fly project whose prototype development, scheduled to start in 2024, has been entrusted to Italy's Marotta, which is coordinating the participation of various companies. The design of the prototype that could debut in 2026 is possible thanks to complex digital simulations and the use of virtual reality and metaverse for the integration of various subsystems and components.

Thanks to this synergy between leading companies in the field of advanced technologies, Esa also gets to test these aircraft for civilian transport, catching up with China and the United States, which have been further ahead on this game so far. Italian excellence has played a key role, in creating the simulation system in the metaverse of the aircraft to speed up the entire prototyping process and realization, which will make its first voyage in a few years.