3 ms·
I think I've read this exact same story for the last 25 years. Will believe a Mach 5+ commercial jet when I see it.
by tdicola 12y ago
I think I've read this exact same story for the last 25 years. Will believe a Mach 5+ commercial jet when I see it.
- rsl7 12y agoI think I still have some marketing materials for the National Aerospace Plane from the late 80s
- cabalamat 12y agoIt goes back longer than that; the HOTOL project started in 1982 -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HOTOL http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HOTOL
- johan_larson 12y agoAnd even earlier: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supersonic_transport http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supersonic_transport I suspect this is one of those Big Challenges that keeps tempting aeronautical engineers, and they try to apply the pushing-the-envelope high tech of their era to it. The problem seems to be the economics. There aren't a lot of people who are willing to pay 10x prices (or whatever) for 3x reductions in travel time.
- kbart 12y agoMy thoughts too. The main reason is not the engines, but the frame itself. It's not very commercially viable spend days in a hangar, after few hours of flight, scanning for the micro faults.