A suborbital flight that brings you all the way across the Atlantic will have almost the same speed and energy requirements as an orbital flight. Just take a l

A suborbital flight that brings you all the way across the Atlantic will have almost the same speed and energy requirements as an orbital flight. Just take a look at the typical orbit of a SpaceX second stage over the Atlantic: https://youtu.be/zBYC4f79iXc?t=32m13s https://youtu.be/zBYC4f79iXc?t=32m13s - A suborbital flight that just barely goes back deep enough into the atmosphere over Africa to slow down would look almost exactly the same and wouldn't even be 100 m/s slower. Compare that to the tiny ballistic arc of the first stage. That's how your suborbital flight would look like if you want to hit the atmosphere at a speed that doesn't require a heat shield.