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Assuming 'Aurora' was built and flew, there could be any number or combination of reasons why the SR-72 is being proposed now. It could be a hangar queen - very likely with radical technology. It may be prohibitively expensive with each mission as costly as a Space Shuttle mission. It may be a logistical nightmare - handling liquid methane and refuelling air to air may be to difficult to be practical ... and so on.According to some reports, it had pulse detonation wave engines - well, we don't hear much about them now and my guess is that despite their mechanical simplicity, acoustic damage to the engines and airframe may make them impractical.It may have simply fallen short of requirements in performance. Sustained air-breathing hypersonic flight has not been demonstrated in the white world yet. Maybe it never achieved the range or reliability required.It's been pointed out often that a Mach 6 spyplane is actually more difficult to operate than a shuttle. While the shuttle entered at Mach 25, it was decelerating quickly and was hot for a short time. A sustained Mach 6 cruiser is going to be soaking in heat for an extended period, cooking almost every part of itself. If it was real, it may well have required almost a complete rebuild after each mission. The shuttles did.
Assuming 'Aurora' was built and flew, there could be any number or combination of reasons why the SR-72 is being proposed now. It could be a hangar queen - very likely with radical technology. It may be prohibitively expensive with each mission as costly as a Space Shuttle mission. It may be a logistical nightmare - handling liquid methane and refuelling air to air may be to difficult to be practical ... and so on.
According to some reports, it had pulse detonation wave engines - well, we don't hear much about them now and my guess is that despite their mechanical simplicity, acoustic damage to the engines and airframe may make them impractical.
It may have simply fallen short of requirements in performance. Sustained air-breathing hypersonic flight has not been demonstrated in the white world yet. Maybe it never achieved the range or reliability required.
It's been pointed out often that a Mach 6 spyplane is actually more difficult to operate than a shuttle. While the shuttle entered at Mach 25, it was decelerating quickly and was hot for a short time. A sustained Mach 6 cruiser is going to be soaking in heat for an extended period, cooking almost every part of itself. If it was real, it may well have required almost a complete rebuild after each mission. The shuttles did.
