3 ms·

Fascinating. Now I want to know why! Maybe at mach 3 more heat's coming from inside than being absorbed. Concordes were specced with Anti-flash White (high ref

Fascinating. Now I want to know why! Maybe at mach 3 more heat's coming from inside than being absorbed. Concordes were specced with Anti-flash White (high reflectivity as used by US and UK nuclear bombers), and the main reason I remember is there was some publicity when France painted one Pepsi blue (not wings) for a sponsorship. It had to have speed restrictions. Wikipedia has a little more (not much), but says the white finish reduced the skin temperature by 6 to 11 degrees Celsius. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concorde https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concorde

msandford 10y ago
The sun adds 1000 watts per square meter, and black body radiation is the fourth power of temperature difference. If you're heating the skin say 5000 watts per square meter due to friction or compression, then the 1000 watts from the sun isn't bad. But if it's only say 500 watts, well, then the sun dominates. They operated at different speeds and altitudes so it's not entirely surprising to me that they had different strategies.