
A new engine could bring back supersonic air-travel - joak
https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2018/12/15/a-new-engine-could-bring-back-supersonic-air-travel
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sohkamyung
I'm more interested in the part at the end where they talk about how to
eliminate (or reduce) the sonic boom being heard from the ground.

 _Mach cut-off [...] involves directing the sonic boom in such a way as to
refract it through layers of thicker air at lower altitude. Refract it enough
and it will, in effect, be reflected—never arriving at ground level. Feeding
the autopilot information about where the relevant layers are would let the
plane steer itself in a way which maximised Mach cut-off._

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FlyMoreRockets
I wonder if a new engine could work with only water injection instead of
afterburning. It would certainly be much cheaper and delivers an impressive
boost in thrust. Quite a few cargo jets use it for takeoffs, especially when
heavily loaded on hot days and high altitude.

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joak
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