Another Meteor

The US Patent Office has approved Airbus’ application for Concord 2.0,an “ultra-rapid air vehicle and related method for aerial locomotion”. In other words, a commercial aircraft capable of reaching 100,000 feet, after which the ramjets will kick in and the vehicle will approach Mach 4.5. The 2.0 will take off vertically, like the space shuttle, and passengers will be in hammocklike webbing for the trip. (Paris to New York, one hour.) Airbus says the designfeatures “concepts and ideas in a ve...