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."

Comments

Sci Fi

[Average_Joe_Sixpack]

Two hour flights to the other side of the world may seem like a scene from a science fiction movie;

At this point in my life, mating seems like science fiction let alone flying around the world in a space plane.

It would still take 6 hours to get there

[Anonymous Coward]

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

Bloatware

[Toby The Economist]

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!

Re:Jetlag was bad? Watch out for ScramJet lag

[rewt66]

Well, let's see. x=(a t^2) / 2. Let's say a = 3.2 ft/sec^2 (1/10 g), so we're not talking real heavy acceleration here. t = 1 hour = 3600 seconds. (We'll use the other hour to decelerate.) Then...

x = 20,736,000 feet = 3927 miles. The whole, two hour flight would be 7854 miles. Not quite halfway around the world (12000 miles).

To do halfway around the world in 2 hours, we need to get 6000 miles = 31,680,000 feet, accelerating from zero, in 1 hour = 3600 seconds. For that, we need a = 2x / t^2 = 4.89 ft / sec^2 = 0.15 g.

Whether that's too much to be comfortable or healthy, I don't know.

Jet lag isn't about acceleration..

[jpellino]

Jetlag isn't about acceleration per se - it's about desynchronization of your circadian clock with that of your surroundings.
I can get you jet lagged by putting you in an isolation suite and resetting the clock you pay attention to, no acceleration involved.
That being said, the human body takes about a day to resynchronize from a shift of an hour.
I suppose you need to accelerate to get that far that fast if you do it by travel, but you can put away the equations that figure the precise acceleration of this plane to discuss jet lag.