So...men of great wisdom when commeth the next commercial SST?

[Phil Drake]

So with fosil fuel economics looking fairly sad with the possible exception of syn fuels derivived from coal when might we see an economically viable SST. I would assume this model would perhaps be hypersonic, M5+ and cruise at 120k' or above. Beyond 2050 for the "Orient Express"? What kind of barriers do we now face? Do you learned engineers and scientists have any ideas for alternative propulsion systems. The R&D cost makes me shutter and for what, a few hundred units. I suppose will have to wait until the military uses this regularily, which might not occur do to UAVs. Any thoughts or links would be appreciated. Sub orbital to avoid drag????

[TheOddOne]

I think you'll see transmat booths before another commercial SST.

Of course we at the airports will cash in here - instead of rows of check-in desks there'll be queues for the cubicles, you & your baggage together. You just shove your card in the slot and automaticaly get billed by the kilo/distance travelled.

Why at the airport? Well, we've got the Immigration/Customs infrastructure in place etc, - until MOL starts intalling booths in Tescos & Asda of course.

The 'receiver' booths will of course be opaque with anomaly detectors, for the 1 in a million chance things don't come out the way they went in...

I imagine a First Class service where your original doesn't get disintigrated until the copy turns up in good order the other end. The LoCo version will store all the images to download at an off-peak time at a booth about 100km from your intended destination.

ITV could run a TV docusoap (like Airline) about all the funny shapes that come out and the interpretations on the conditions of carriage.

Cheers,

The Odd One