Soon airplanes would be able to travel across one country to another in less than hour by hypersonic flights.

NASA and Binghamton University’s researchers carried out a study in which they investigated the characteristics of nanotubes made using boron nitride – boron and nitrogen. The results of the investigation showed that the material is likely to make hypersonic travel possible, which is over than 4,000 miles per hour.

Carbon nanotubes are used at present for an aircraft’s force and capability to resist temperatures over 400 degrees Celsius. Comparatively, boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) can resist temperatures up to 900 degrees Celsius along with managing quantities of stress. These nanotubes are also more light in weight than the carbon nanotubes, reported Business Insider.

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The drawback of using BNNTs however, is the cost. According to a researcher Changhong Ke, covering the aircraft with BNNTs costs a massive amount of money.

He explained, “NASA currently owns one of the few facilities in the world able to produce quality BNNTs. Right now, BNNTs cost about $1,000 per gram. It would be impractical to use a product that expensive.”

It is however believed that its price might reduce after its increase in production and after doing more detailed investigation about how this material can be useful. The carbon nanotubes too were costly when they were initially introduced around some 20 years ago but now their prices have reduced a lot. Ke is certain that the same thing will happen with BNNTs.

According to Futurism, Ke exclaimed that the initial application of the new material would be for military fighter jets and will later be followed for commercialized flights.