(Azt28) writes:



And are hypersonics a good idea for anything at all?

For high-speed cruise within the atmosphere -- assuming you have some
urgent reason to want to do that -- they look promising. But they have
nothing much to do with spaceflight.

I think the sonic boom forbids any hypersonics aircraft service.

Why? The sonic boom has not prohibited supersonic aircraft service. It
only ever prohibited supersonic commercial aircraft service over land,
and even that may be negotiable at the margins. Lots of supersonic
planes have been built and seen service, and hypersonic planes would
serve nicely in the same applications.


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