Lockheed Martin is developing a quiet supersonic transport that will be able to travel from Chicago to pairs in under four hours. More exciting is the project undertaken by the Germen space agency, DLR. The European commission has funded this project of a "space liner" which will be capable of traveling at a speed of 14000 mph and carry 50 passengers through space from New- York to Sydney in less then 90 minutes.
This may be regarded as a modified version of a space shuttle which may be powered by rockets operating on liquid hydrogen / oxygen thrusters. The space liner would reach a height of 62 miles, which is the lower boundary of space, within seven minutes of take off. as it would be at such a great height, the sonic boom generator by it will not disturb the populations over which it travels. Travelling at such stupendous speed will cause the heating of the space liner to temperature up-to 5400 C. To keep the body cool special porous ceramic tiles are being developed which would 'sweat' water, as the human skin does.
If you are willing to spend $200000, commercial space travel is already available. The US company Virgin Galactic has already make pre-booking of 200 persons with a total price tag of US $30 million. Their space craft will take you alone with five another passengers to a height of 68 miles and give you the ride of your life for 2.5 hours. A member of other US, European and Kazakhstan based companies are also developing similar space tourism initiatives.
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