In July, Lockheed Martin completed the build of NASA’s X-59 test aircraft, which is designed to turn sonic booms into mere thumps, in the hope of making overland supersonic flight a possibility. Ground tests and a first test flight are planned for later in the year. NASA aims to have enough data to hand over to US regulators in 2027.

  • library_napper@monyet.cc
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    1 year ago

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

    • mondoman712@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      In North America.

      For the EU the biggest issue is all of the national operators being insane in different ways that makes it harder and more expensive than it should be to cross borders by rail a lot of the time.

    • Stuka@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      You don’t want that unless you want the cost or virtually everything to increase.

      • mondoman712@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        The freight railroads aren’t good at what they do. It would be much easier to run passenger services (and improve their own operations) if they ran trains that actually fit within their own passing loops, but they desperately want to reduce the number of people they have to pay to run their trains. Both would also benefit from better maintained infrastructure with upgrades such as electrification and more double tracking, but the railroads don’t want to spend any more money than absolutely necessary to keep their (mostly) running.

          • SokathHisEyesOpen@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago

            It’s amazing how out of touch with reality so many people on this platform are. It honestly feels like there are a lot more kids on Lemmy than there were on Reddit. They’re smart kids, but kids lack real world experience, and it shows.