There's also the sonic boom problem. Until engineers find a practical way to reduce the sonic boom, SSTs will be restricted to flying at Mach 1-plus only over water (as Concorde was).
Concorde could fly again
- Thread starter MacLeod
- Start date
Oklahoma City sonic boom tests (link) The page doesn't cite the exact test conditions, but the tests were "intended to quantify the effects of transcontinental supersonic transport (SST) aircraft on a city," ergo probably a fair simulation of what they thought an American SST would do.
I hear you. I live and work near an airport path, and the only "extra" engines I see regularly are on the FedEx DC-10 every afternoon. I really key in when I see four nacelles. Since the retirement of the UPS stretch DC-8s a few years ago, they are almost always ANG KC-135R's, but I did see a C-17 a few weeks ago, which was nice bit of variety.
To go further off-topic, the sound of four piston props is burned into my brain from when I was a kid. In the Western fire season, it seemed like there were always air tankers around, and the sounds of the PB4Y, DC-4/C-54, DC-6 and -7 firebombers are unforgettable.
The space shuttles used to make them from about that altitude. Enough to hear the windows rattle, I'm told.
That has been researched thoroughly, and is no longer an obstacle to making an SST.
But as long as fossil fuels are the most fuel efficient source in energy, I see no future where a SST will fly, except for rich, wealthy, loaded fat cats who not only think time is money, but are willing to pay the extra costs.
I know if I were an airline or aircraft company, I wouldn't invest in a supersonic airliner that would be more expensive, gulp fuel faster, and that said fuel is expected to rise in price throughout the century.
If there is no paradigm shift in jet fuel for the foreseeable future, I see a commercial SST as nothing more than a pipe dream, and that saddens me.
Musk looks to be looking into all that as well
http://nextbigfuture.com/2015/10/elon-musk-sees-future-of-all.html
I worry he is spreading himself too thin.
He wants to fund Mars trips. Well, NASA's brine finds may keep him away from certain locations.
His way of funding Mars is by, perhaps, operating his own comsat constellations.
Blimps, gliders, etc look to fill some of that--then too there is ground based neutrino transmission
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com...neutrino-beam-transmitted-through-solid-rock/
As a space advocate--that one scares the hell out of me.
If perfected and shrunk down--there goes your comsats and aircraft altogether.
Right now, we have AGW/evolution denialists in Washington DC--but at least they will fund a HLLV for you.
But where GOPers are anti-science, Dems are anti-technology.
Proxmire was a thorn in space advocates side. Mondale wanted to kill NASA, as did Kerry according to some.
If someone is too far left, they will axe NASA and tax Musk and Bezos to the point that you lose both public and private spaceflight.
To steal a quote, both NASA types and alt.spacers "need to be praising the hell out of each other" and making spaceflight something besides an all WASP male ocupation.
Porco, Chang-Diaz, Farouk El-Baz, and NGT are all helping to do this.
Musk needs to do women's outreach--and maybe start talking space based solar power--have a plan for when Hillary becomes President.
he needs to focus all his money on Space X.
I mean all of it, old boy.
Same for you Bezos. You just got a windfall. Invest it in something like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kankoh-maru
Don't just copy Elon.
Invest that money before it's gone.
http://nextbigfuture.com/2015/10/elon-musk-sees-future-of-all.html
I worry he is spreading himself too thin.
He wants to fund Mars trips. Well, NASA's brine finds may keep him away from certain locations.
His way of funding Mars is by, perhaps, operating his own comsat constellations.
Blimps, gliders, etc look to fill some of that--then too there is ground based neutrino transmission
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com...neutrino-beam-transmitted-through-solid-rock/
As a space advocate--that one scares the hell out of me.
If perfected and shrunk down--there goes your comsats and aircraft altogether.
Right now, we have AGW/evolution denialists in Washington DC--but at least they will fund a HLLV for you.
But where GOPers are anti-science, Dems are anti-technology.
Proxmire was a thorn in space advocates side. Mondale wanted to kill NASA, as did Kerry according to some.
If someone is too far left, they will axe NASA and tax Musk and Bezos to the point that you lose both public and private spaceflight.
To steal a quote, both NASA types and alt.spacers "need to be praising the hell out of each other" and making spaceflight something besides an all WASP male ocupation.
Porco, Chang-Diaz, Farouk El-Baz, and NGT are all helping to do this.
Musk needs to do women's outreach--and maybe start talking space based solar power--have a plan for when Hillary becomes President.
he needs to focus all his money on Space X.
I mean all of it, old boy.
Same for you Bezos. You just got a windfall. Invest it in something like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kankoh-maru
Don't just copy Elon.
Invest that money before it's gone.
publiusr, I would appreciate if you treated this forum more like a discussion forum and less like your private blog where you just go to dump a bunch of links. 
Similar threads
