[blackdog]

Talk about shootin yer load in a hurry! Again, the amount of hydrogen needed to propel an airfoil of close to zero lift with any sort of payload would be prohibitive to commercial flight.

It'll still be kick the tires and light the fires, on Jet-A or kerosene for another hundred years.

[CasearianDaoist]

Actually thre long term plans would be to have a detachable robotic craft thet would really just be a like any other supersonic platform that would get it up to speed and then release it. They would probably have to wait until the technology improved to the point were there were very powerful and very light all composite/cermaic engines, which may be twenty years away but most likely not 100.

Even so it would make a great space entry vehicle.

[frithguild]

Turbofans to get it off the ground. Existing technology.

Scrams to get it above the atmosphere. Amount of thrust it produces is classified. You don't know how much hydrogen produces how much thrust. No moving parts. Not much more than a specially shaped tube. Simple to produce.

Chemical rockets to achieve escape velocity. Existing technology.