Last time DARPA flew something at 17,000mph within the atmosphere, didn't it just sorta fall apart in the sky? And once you're moving that fast, aren't you more just destroying all the air particles instead of moving them so it's not really aerodynamics?<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA_Falcon_Project" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA_Falcon_Project</a>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypersonic_speed#Classification_of_Mach_regimes" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypersonic_speed#Classificatio...</a>
At that speed you're basically just taking a ballistic missile to your destination. You can get anywhere in the world in a couple of hours, but the tickets cost more than a comfortable house in the suburbs.
"What a 16,000 mph airliner might look like"<p>A tube full of pureed humans should even a small buffet be encountered in high speed flight.<p>A debris field of charred parts should the heat shielding fail.<p>Bits and pieces washing up on distant shores should a loss of control occur in flight.
2,180 km/h x 10 = 21,800 km/h = 6 km/s<p>Article claims 25600 km/h = 7 km/s
(You need 7,9 km/s to go into space)<p>Slightly not enough to fly into space. Once again, why do we need it?
> London to New Zealand to little under 30 minutes<p>Well, 2h would be enough for me.<p>On the other hand, it's probably easier to control a 16,000mph plane for 30min than a 4,000mph plane for 2h.
From wikipedia, in case anyone else was also wondering who he is:<p>> Charles Bombardier (born 1974) is a Canadian engineer, innovator and angel investor. who creates vehicle concepts and shares them openly with the world with his non profit Imaginactive.org.<p>> Bombardier's grandfather was Joseph-Armand Bombardier, founder of Bombardier Inc. and Bombardier Recreational Products and inventor of the snowmobile.<p>...so, the rich grandson of a business founder who designs airplanes for fun. Not sure how seriously we can take his "designs".