Lockheed Martin 12-seat Supersonic Jet

Supersonic flight is not only for the military. Check out what Lockheed Martin has in conceptual stages, "Lockheed Martin 12-seat Supersonic Jet". This would allow flying from LA to New York in 2 hours at Mach 1.8. If they decide to build and sell it, we could be seeing these by 2012.

JAXA Supersonic Jet Testing Resumes

JAXA plans to resume its testing of supersonic jet designs in Sep/Oct 2006. "Japan to Resume Supersonic Jet Test" I wrote about this earlier in this blog. The new goal is produce a supersonic jet by 2012 that can fly from Tokyo to LA in about four hours.

China and Russia Plan Joint Mission to Mars

For space exploration, China and Russian are making plans to jointly go to Mars! (article) The space of the 20th century is back. Now it appears that USA, China, Russia and Japan are in this 3-way race. It was good for innovation in the 20th century so I would have to say it will be great for 21-century innovation this time around for the next 20-30 years. Assuming we do not destroy ourselves in some type of large global war.