Originally Posted by
spanna2000
I'd vote for a new SST - there will never be another Concorde. It will always be a marvel that so much was achieved with the technology available.
I suspect the biggest barrier to a new SST is the sonic boom. Everything else modern technology could do better than Concorde - the dev costs would probably be lower because all of the hard science has been done. Is there any possibility of a shock wave cushion (patent pending) to surpress the boom?
AFAIK, it is not possible to "cushion" or in any way diminish the shock wave of a sonic boom. There is no way around it; when something travels faster than sound, there will be a shock wave. I think it is possible to manipulate airframe geometry to better disperse (is that the right word?) the sonic boom or otherwise spread out its impact.
Would be nice though... another supersonic aircraft. But presuming any such aircraft would have to overcome Concorde's shortcomings to be viable (economically), would it then have the same allure as Concorde? I firmly believe a big part of the attraction of Concorde was the glamour, the prestige, the exclusivity of traveling Concorde.