May 8, 2006
WHO YA GONNA CALL?:
Japan wants NASA help on fast jet (The Associated Press, 5/08/06)
Stung by repeated setbacks, Japan's space agency plans to start talks next month with NASA about jointly developing a supersonic successor to the retired Concorde, an official said Monday.Japan is trying to leapfrog ahead in the aerospace field with a plan to build a next-generation airliner that can fly between Tokyo and Los Angeles in about three hours. But a string of glitches, including a nose cone problem during the latest test flight in March, has led the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to look for an international partner.
"In the future, we think we need some kind of cooperation with NASA," JAXA spokesman Kiyotaka Yashiro said. [...]
Yashiro's comments came in response to a Japanese newspaper report that said JAXA would ally with NASA and the U.S.-based aerospace giant Boeing Co. on the next stage of development.
It's nice to be part of the Axis of Good, huh? Posted by Orrin Judd at May 8, 2006 8:52 PM
Supersonic flight's inherently risky I would have thought. As the numbers go up the physics gets proportionatly more menacing.
Posted by: Amos at May 8, 2006 10:23 PMSo the Japanese don't trust the Euros who already have had experience in supersonic flights. Sounds more like an alliance. The Chinese allies with the Euros on their Galileo GPS, and with the Russians on developing rockets. Pretty soon the Indians will join us and the Japanese.
Posted by: ic at May 8, 2006 11:35 PMUnloop.
Posted by: Annoying Old Guy at May 10, 2006 12:48 PM