NASA moves a step closer to supersonic passenger flights | CNN
www.cnn.com
A new study by NASA’s Glenn Research Center has looked at the possibility of supersonic passenger jets. Its “high-speed strategy” is mooting commercial flights that travel at up to Mach 4 – over 3,000 miles per hour – starting with transoceanic routes.

In July, Lockheed Martin completed the build of NASA’s X-59 test aircraft, which is designed to turn sonic booms into mere thumps, in the hope of making overland supersonic flight a possibility. Ground tests and a first test flight are planned for later in the year. NASA aims to have enough data to hand over to US regulators in 2027.

  • AnAngryAlpaca@feddit.de
    37·
    10 months ago

    Price per km of track goes up exponentialy the faster you want to go, which means they will either have expensive tickets or will be unprofitable.

    • Kavorka@lemmy.ml
      111·
      10 months ago

      The rail network should be a service not a for profit organisation

      • AnAngryAlpaca@feddit.de
        2·
        10 months ago

        Still, someone has to finance it. In the worst case you have a high speed rail network with high operationg costs that nobody uses, but taxpayers still need to maintain.

        • NattyNatty2x4@beehaw.org
          7·
          10 months ago

          I swear if firefighting wasn’t currently publicly funded, you’d argue against making it publicly funded because it might not be profitable

        • max@feddit.nl
          5·
          10 months ago

          If it’s there (and not terrible), people will use it. Will it break even on the costs? Maybe. Maybe not. Still worth it, however.