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Space Plane to Offer 2 Hour Flight around the World
secretsather writes "Two hour flights to the other side of the world may seem like a scene from a science fiction movie; but the technology is in place, and a plane that can do just that is currently in development. While it looks like a scene from a flight simulator, the Astrox space plane is the real deal, and the Astrox Corporation says it could revolutionize the transportation industry. Traveling as fast as Mach 25 with at least 30 minutes of space shuttle-like views while in orbit is the highlight of this plane, and The Astrox Corporation, along with their partners, are claiming to have finally overcome their largest problem, mixing fuel."
Sure the fight may last only 2 hours, but after spending much of that time in heavy acceleration, I wonder how long it would take to recover. Also, wouldn't passengers need to be in really good health to endure such a journey, and would they need to wear flight suits like fighter pilots just to keep from blacking out? I suspect that regular passenger use may be out of the question if these problems aren't solved by altitude/weightlessness.
Wikipedia's entry for Scramjet mentions
Scram jets might be able to accelerate from approximately Mach 5-7 to around somewhere between half of orbital velocity and orbital velocity (X-30 research suggested that Mach 17 might be the limit compared to an orbital speed of Mach 25, and other studies put the upper speed limit for a pure scram jet engine between Mach 10 and 25, depending on the assumptions madeAs the company claims a top speed of Mach 25, could this be the 'cheap' way to get to low Earth orbit?
The force that blew the Big Bang continues to accelerate.
Scramjets are the "fusion" of aircraft research. Always 10-20 years away. I'll believe it when I see something flying.
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
1/2 hour - drive to space-port
2.0 hours - security/checkin
1/2 hours - sit on space-plane tarmac
2.0 hours - flight
1/2 hour - baggage claim
1/2 hour - drive from space-port
Prior 9/11; two hours pre-flight, eight hours in flight, half hour at the other end : 10.5 hours.
Post 9/11; four hours pre-flight, eight hours in flight, one hour at the other end : 13 hours
Hyperdrive; four hours pre-flight, two hours in flight, one hour at the other end : 7 hours.
Pre-flight security bloatware, god-dammit. I upgrade my plane so it's four times faster and I'm still only 50% better off than I was originally!
I'm actually interested to see if the rough-and-tumble in the boardroom starts to spill out into the streets, a proxy war fought by mercenaries, hurting corporations where they're most vulnerable -- the bank account and their reputations.
To me, it's absolutely uncanny how dead-on he was about the changes to society the future would bring. The only thing I'd disagree about with his insight is how long it would take for things to fall apart -- IMHO he was an optimist.
Marco...that was Portugese.
I assume you're talking about the UK, based on terminology and your URL.
A big difference between the UK and the USA is that in the latter, most people think it's the greatest place on earth (usually those who've never lived anywhere else), and it isn't; in the UK most think it's a shithole (usually those who've never lived anywhere else), and it isn't. At a certain point your miserable attitude becomes self-fulfilling. You should actually try hopping to the other side of the world and see how much they enjoy the company of whinging poms.
I like the idea of an evacuated maglev tunnel. It's still unrealistic (a tunnel from NY to LA would cost $1 trillion), although, the cost is all in the construction.
in quite a few cases, it might well be worth it- a multi-billion dollar merger, a head of state's emergency meeting, etc, etc.
Unlikely. That's what phones are for. Mergers aren't rush jobs, anyway; they take weeks to months to set up, half the time they fall through, and most of the time they lose money for the stockholders. There are some efforts underway to design a supersonic business jet, but the price has to be no more than 2x that of a comparably sized Grumman Gulfstream for it to sell. They're trying to get the operating cost down to business class fare levels, which, for a 14-seat plane, isn't bad.
Warren Buffet once went on an Alaska cruise, during which one of his companies had a crisis that kept him on a satellite phone for hours. He's interested in buying fifty of the supersonic bizjets for his NetJets rental operation. If they work.
The shuttle wouldn't be much use for an emergency meeting considering how long it takes to prepare for a launch. Probably quicker to row there.
...and come back to where you started. It'll be a whole cheaper.
Would you like to stop as well?
wake me when it's flying.
gigantino.tv - Heavy but weighs nothing.
I'm not saying it's NOT a pipe dream, but it kind of reminds me of the early days of aviation when people were actually trying to find a business model. Lots of new technologies were tried out to lure rich travellers in search of novelty. Eventually, the more practical ideas trickled down to the 'flying buses' most travellers endure.
Can someone lure enough big-budget thrill seekers to get such an unlikely endeavor off the ground (for lack of a better term)? I'd like to believe people haven't stopped thinking big. Eventually, one of these bold (crazy?) ideas could actually work.
This news, while being interesting from a scientific and technical standpoint (despite probably being way overblown and premature), will hardly impact the life of your average traveler. I can't speak for everyone here but the Concorde would never have been an option for me if I was ever flying to Europe due to the exorbitant ticket prices. I doubt this plane would be any different.
I am the inventor of the hilarious refrigerator alarm.