Future SSTs

Other supersonic planes are currently under design. President Ronald Reagan called for a program to develop a hyperspace transport or National Aerospace Plane capable of going from New York to Tokyo in two hours.

Photo courtesy NASA One concept of the National Aerospace Plane

Photo courtesy NASA Another concept of the National Aerospace Plane

Such planes would have to enter outer space in a suborbital flight. They would have to develop the air-breathing rocket engines necessary to achieve the appropriate speeds and deal with the intense heat of re-entry, much like the space shuttle.

For more information on SSTs and related topics, check out the links on the next page.