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. matt_heimer · 1790796160 · focus · HN ↗

         "Make America Great Again" leans a lot into restorative nostalgia so it's unsurprising that ideas from the past are going to be presented as an idealized goal.

         1. consumer451 · 1790796637 · focus · HN ↗

            Please note that we are also spending money on getting F-14s flight worthy again, for no other reason than movie-brain and nostalgia.

            It's literally called "The Maverick Act."

            1. bunderbunder · 1790800809 · focus · HN ↗

               The current administration is so thoroughly enmired in nostalgia for the 20th century that I won’t be surprised when they restart production of the P-51.

               1. LoadbearingGun · 1790843541 · focus · HN ↗

                  I wouldn't be surprised if they bring back the Messerschmitt the way it's going.
         2. runjake · 1790805378 · focus · HN ↗

            perceived nostalgia, because a lot of that supposed nostalgia can't be defined or isn't actually true.

            I would appreciate a solid explanation of which periods and aspects "Make America Great Again" refers to. I can think of a couple ones off the top of my head regarding technical progress, but I'm unsure whether MAGA helps or hinders that progress.

            1. krapp · 1790889844 · focus · HN ↗

               >perceived nostalgia, because a lot of that supposed nostalgia can't be defined or isn't actually true.

               That's how populism and fascism (or whatever kind of neo-fascism this is) work. They all catalyze a yearning for a return to a mythological "golden age" which never really existed, and whose inheritance has been denied to the people by the perfidious enemy within.

               >I would appreciate a solid explanation of which periods and aspects "Make America Great Again" refers to.

               The 1940s and 1950s. A return to American wartime aggression and postwar economy, coal and fossil fuels, Conservative Christian values, white men getting the respect and dignity they deserve, a lifetime of steady employment at the assembly line and a gold watch and a pension, and women knowing their place.

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