It's Worth The Effort.....
A few of the comments were very negative, one citing the demise of the Concorde because of impracticality. However the building and operation of the Concorde was a tremendous advance in aviation technology and all the spinoff technical advances. The plane itself was the first practical attempt at SST travel, and it was expensive to operate and maintain, but it worked. This proposal of commercial suborbital flight would not use much more fuel than the Concorde, perhaps even less, and it's niche at first would be for the very rich, high level government and military officials and the business executive travel that one poster mentioned. The prototypes will probably go the way of the Concorde, but the aviation technology developed will pay off in many ways, judging from the advances made since the beginning of the aviation age. Just as the when first commercial jets (I remember well the naysayers - how dangerous they were, how expensive they were, etc.) made the scene, people were apprehensive. Now riding on a propeller plane feels slow and outmoded, uncomfortable and a little insecure. Someday, in years, but not too many years, the concept proposed in this article or something like it, will be the norm, just like the jet is now. Go for it!
