Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ncis.llnl.gov!helios.ee.lbl.gov!pasteur!ucbvax!cms.umrcc.ac.uk!ZZASSGL
From: ZZASSGL@cms.umrcc.ac.uk ("Geoff. Lane. Tel UK-061 275 6051")
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Concorde, Hyper-sonic jets and onto Hotol etc.
Message-ID: <23.Jan.89.14:10:19.GMT.ZZASSGL@UK.AC.UMRCC.CMS>
Date: 23 Jan 89 14:10:19 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 29


It pleases a middle-aged Brit's heart good to see so much interest in
the Concorde as its one of the few projects that a British government did
not chicken out of as the price exceeded hopelessly under-estimated
development costs.  Despite the high price per aircraft the research
work that had to be done was used elsewhere and probably would have had
to be done in any case.

Right - now some space - Both the American and British Governments have
made some vague noises about very fast and very high altitude jet/rocket
craft at various times.  It seems to me that such projects are the ONLY
way that anybody outside of the space mafia will ever get out of the
atmosphere. There is no point in waiting for NASA to develop a craft that
is cheap or safe enough(and would YOU trust any USSR flying machine?). The
only existing experts in designing and building high performance flying
machines - the commercial aircraft builders -
must be given sufficient incentive to produce the hardware that is
required. Despite recent events I think that even PAN-AM could do the
job if a profit could be seen inside a few years. This of course implies
none of the very silly "You can't park that thing here" arguments that
various governments get upto in the aviation business.


geoff.

PS I just had a thought - do you remember the visual joke in the film
2001 where the instructions for the 0G toilet almost totally covered
the door? Well if we wait long enough not only will the instructions
be lengthy, they may also be a translation from the Japanese!