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
I like its lines, but realistically, I don’t know what you’d use it for unless you need extremely high-resolution images.
We know, from Trump’s probably-ill-advised tweet back in 2019, that we can do 10-centimeter resolution from reconaissance satellites like USA-224, near the physical limitations of light resolution.
Perigee altitude: 270 kilometers (170 mi)[1]
Apogee altitude: 986 kilometers (613 mi)[1]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_SR-71_Blackbird
During missions, the SR-71 operated at high speeds and altitudes (Mach 3.2 at 85,000 ft or 26,000 m)
The SR-71 operates at a tenth to a thirtieth USA-224’s altitude, so assuming comparable imaging systems (which I could believe) and that there aren’t stability or thermal issues (which I’d be less-certain of) it can get ten to thirty times the resolution of a KH11 satellite from the lower altitude. I’m not sure how much utility there is in reconnaissance to getting 1 cm or ⅓ cm resolution images instead of 10 cm.
en.wikipedia.orgUSA-224 - WikipediaReplying to @tal@lemmy.today
NASA flies U-2 spy planes over wildfires. They might be able to do the same thing with the SR-71. I really don’t know, that’s my best guess for a realistic use case.