Thread

1. scrumper · 1790779923 · focus · HN ↗

   The general tone here seems to be against the effort, but separate the circus from the ringmaster and there is a lot to like here.

   Having a manned, very high altitude, very fast research plane is undoubtedly useful for all sorts of development purposes.

   But more than that, we are as a civilization doing a bad job of preserving cutting edge expertise from the past. We keep letting entire areas of engineering and technology die out without really trying to preserve them even though we know at some point they will come in useful. The skills, processes, even institutional confidence developed in just trying to get an SR-71 flying again will teach us a lot about resurrecting other such dead ends. Aerospace in particular is full of them. That will, for sure, get us out of trouble or speed up something we need at some unknown point in the future. I'd think of it more as developing a general capability than the world's most expensive vintage aircraft hobby.

   1. runjake · 1790780542 · focus · HN ↗

      Look, I'm certified as the world's biggest SR-71 fan. As a kid, I saw it fly a number of times, got to see it up close, and had a family member who worked as an engineer on the program. I believe it may have even been this Blackbird, 844. It impacted me so much that I later went on to work on my own black and other military aircraft.

      I'm assuming that, if this rumor is true, somebody in the Trump campaign forced somebody at NASA to do this out of some misguided nostalgia. My hope is that if they're going to resurrect the Blackbird, they'll at least retrofit modern engines into the thing.

      But there are much more modern, cost-effective ways to build very-high-altitude, very-fast aircraft. I'm doubtful that going manned is the right approach. It takes a lot of weight and space to carry a person and the required life support systems. That capacity could be better utilized for more fuel and sensors.

      There's better technology that's far cheaper to maintain and operate. And you could potentially get hypersonic, or at least near-hypersonic, performance.

      1. blks · 1790780719 · focus · HN ↗

         Hopefully it won’t be leaking fuel anymore with modern engines

         1. runjake · 1790781758 · focus · HN ↗

            You'd probably be using some mix of better turbofan/turbojet engines along with ramjets/scramjets and 50-60 years of materials sciences advances. So, yes.

            1. pbk111 · 1790791665 · focus · HN ↗

               Don't underestimate the J-58. This is as much if an extraordinary engineering feat as the SR itself.

               1. runjake · 1790796033 · focus · HN ↗

                  I respect the J58's place in history, but it has no place in modern aviation. The ideas behind it still remain relevant, but the implementation is long, long outdated. I think it could be redesigned and reimplemented for cheaper that it would cost to resurrect and maintain the original J58.

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