posted in Technology
NASA mysteriously trying to pull world’s fastest plane, SR-71 Blackbird, out of retirement — and won’t say why
Seeing Blackbird fly again after all these years would be incredible. I’d love to know what NASA has planned for it.
nypost.com/2026/09/29/us-news/us-quietly-sr-71-blackbird-out-of-retirement-and-wont-say-why/Replying to @Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works
Cause this plane is so fucking cool ! If only ESA could do the same with Le Concorde
Replying to @borokov@lemmy.world
It was economically unviable and by now, woefully technologically outdated.
As a climate-conscious person, the concorde can stay exactly where it is and never move again thank you. That thing burned several times as much kerosene as a standard plane for the same journey with less cargo space, etc
Replying to @FurryMemesAccount@lemmy.blahaj.zone
As cool as they are this is the truth. Once spy satellites began transmitting digital images (the first few used film and dropped capsules back to earth to be developed) the SR71 began obsolete and too risky to fly.
Now we have satellites that are constantly observing the “hot spots” around the planet which is safer than having pilots fly across enemy airspace.
My guess is NASA is using these to test supersonic attributes since they have tons of data on the SR71 and NASA is currently developing supersonic planes that don’t create sonic booms.