this post was submitted on 23 Mar 2024
12 points (80.0% liked)

Technology

1377 readers
179 users here now

Which posts fit here?

Anything that is at least tangentially connected to the technology, social media platforms, informational technologies and tech policy.


Rules

1. English onlyTitle and associated content has to be in English.
2. Use original linkPost URL should be the original link to the article (even if paywalled) and archived copies left in the body. It allows avoiding duplicate posts when cross-posting.
3. Respectful communicationAll communication has to be respectful of differing opinions, viewpoints, and experiences.
4. InclusivityEveryone is welcome here regardless of age, body size, visible or invisible disability, ethnicity, sex characteristics, gender identity and expression, education, socio-economic status, nationality, personal appearance, race, caste, color, religion, or sexual identity and orientation.
5. Ad hominem attacksAny kind of personal attacks are expressly forbidden. If you can't argue your position without attacking a person's character, you already lost the argument.
6. Off-topic tangentsStay on topic. Keep it relevant.
7. Instance rules may applyIf something is not covered by community rules, but are against lemmy.zip instance rules, they will be enforced.


Companion communities

!globalnews@lemmy.zip
!interestingshare@lemmy.zip


Icon attribution | Banner attribution

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Could supersonic air travel make a comeback?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Technofrood@feddit.uk 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I mean as much as I like the Concorde, I really don't see commercial supersonic flights being a major success, it might be of some use on certain long fight routes that are mostly over water.

But it's going to have the same problems that were the nails in the coffin for Concorde, too noisy to fly over populated areas, high running/maintenance costs, low passenger capacity and reasonably small market.

Given the rise of the internet there's even less need to just pop over to the US and back for the day which was some of the market for Concorde. The environmental impact of a commercial supersonic aircraft would also be under significant pressure. A lot of the current improvement in jet engines for commercial flight has been how to make them more efficient.

As someone with an interest in the technology involved in this stuff: it’s a LOT more viable today than it was 60 years ago. Today, you have:

  • extremely advanced composites, ceramics, and metallurgy
  • extremely advanced construction techniques, including bespoke additive, subtractive, and planar deformation
  • incredibly detailed computer simulation in various domains to enable rapid iteration and perfection of components
  • 60 years of research into jet engine energy and noise efficiency
  • 60 years of research into supercruise
  • recent advances in combined cycle, geared turbines, and rotational detonation engines - not to mention, theoretical advances in the future around electric, hydrogen, and fusion-powered concepts
  • recent flight research around suppressing noise during supersonic flight (QSST)

There is a TON of technology and innovation that’s coming together recently to make supersonic transport an actual viable thing. For the record, it wasn’t a viable thing when the Concorde was doing it. That was basically a national pride project between the UK and France.