Technology

Technology filters down. Once upon a time only the rich could afford corrective lenses, but that wasn't a waste of resources. How many of non-wealthy people will read this comment and wear glasses or contacts? I do. BEVs were limited to the wealthy at first too, and now are solidly affordable to much of the middle class: dependent more on their access to charging and their driving requirements than on their budget. The first residential fridges cost more than a brand new Model T when they came out: the inflation adjusted 1922 price was ~$13,000 today. Was inventing fridges worthless?

It's NASA developing new technologies. New stuff starts off more expensive, which means it will start off limited to the wealthy. If you don't want any new tech to come out that starts with rich people being the primary users, then you should go find your local luddite club to join.

This is tax money funding toys for the parasitic criminal billionaires.

What an idiotic and short-sighted take. Research on supersonic aerodynamics is useful for far more than just toys for billionaires. Military applications, rocketry and astrophysics, for example. And even regular commercial aviation, because supersonic shockwaves are a major source of drag even at the speeds airliners fly at. Airlines would kill to have a fleet of planes that burn a few percent less fuel.

E: Also, much of the noise an airliner makes during takeoff comes from the sonic booms created by the engine fan blades going supersonic.

Ffs it's nasa not blue origin. Do we really have to fight anti nasa shills now ffs, it really is like Nixon all over again after Trump ffs.

How about bitch about the actual wasteful military spending instead of scientific research into physics and understanding the dynamics of sonic booms. Nasa has like .1% of the military budget ffs.

Airplanes are public transportation though

Or it's own people. Which is stupid, because the brain drain will catch up technology wise.

Actually just regular passenger trains that have priority over freight trains would be a great step forward

I wonder if research into sonic boom physics could translate over to high speed aerodynamics generally, to include the useful models for high speed trains.

Flying used to be a "luxury boondoggle for the rich" same with a lot of things that we view as common today.

They can do both.

Specialization of Labor is what society is built upon, and it actually allows society to work on multiple problems all at once.

"Engineer" is not a magical term. The people working on improving aerodynamics can't just stop doing that and switch gears to focus on chemistry, materials, process improvements, or software.

Complaining that these engineers aren't fixing the pollution from air travel is like complaining that they aren't delivering the mail, preventing shoplifting, or solving the Hollywood strikes.

how about we focus on decarbonizing air travel for the commoners? Fuck supersonic flight

No fuck you peasant, we gonna have the rich flying in supersonic flightrs and there's nothing you can do about it

That's what they're trying to solve, the sonic boom. The spike in the front is supposed to reduce the boom, which hopefully leads to legal supersonic overland travel.

However, time and time again, the market showed that people value the price tag over anything else. The Concorde didn't make it, the A380 isn't looking good. Anything with a high operational cost doesn't seem like it would last, especially with push for greener tech.

That's the idea behind the prototype. The sonic booms are lessened so overland flights will be permitted.

I'd hate to live in a world where just because something isn't immediately useful it shouldn't be researched.

Being able to demonstrate the ability to suppress a sonic boom would be huge.

People fly first class, people fly businees class. Some have the money.

Also, for some, the time saved is worth much more than what the ticket costs, especially in business (expensive consultants?).

why is NASA doing this with tax dollars

The resulting aircraft/technology can be sold to commercial aviation and/or be used for military purposes

something obvious

NASA stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration, so it's kinda in scope

NASA invented much of the modern age.

I imagine the same was asked when jet planes were first invented, now look at where we are.

NASA is likely doing this with tax dollars because private industry has little reason to push forward research that does not yield an immediate ROI. Not yielding an immediate ROI is a very myopic driver of priorities.