Jeroen Wenting wrote:
"Gordon" wrote in message
ups.com...
Why not start with the ultimate 50s-60s-70s aircraft? Take an SR-71
and do wizard stuff to that - it would have some amazing possibilites
if it were built with everything available today. It would end up
needing docking capability for refueling from the ISS!

What modern engines would you fit to an SR-71 that would not destroy its
aerodynamic profile yet enable it to work both in the earth's atmosphere and
outside it?

Did the original poster say I had to solve all the engineering
questions to make it work? No. It was a simple "what if", which I
answered.

Such engines don't at the moment exist. The scramjets being tested are built
into the aerodynamic structure of the craft so are out of the question given
the restrictions you have been handed, adding rocket motors to the SR-71
would be impractical (you might mount one on the top of the fuselage where
the old drone attachments are situated I guess, but I doubt that would drive
it up to over 200km altitude).

For several years, they tested a "canoe" with an X-33 prototype engine
in exactly that location. Is that what you meant?

No where in the original post did he say I had to come up with the
engineering changes and adapter kits to make it work. Forget I
bothered to post.

Gordon