this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2026
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If NASA needs an extremely fast, high-altitude aircraft, it would be much cheaper to bring SR-71s out of retirement than to build completely new aircraft from scratch.
As for why they'd want it...
Maybe they want to experiment with using it as a space launch platform, getting it very high and up to speed and then launching a (relatively) small rocket from its back to launch that rocket into space.
Maybe they have a new engine design to operate at very high altitudes and speeds, and they want the SR-71 as a test platform to mount those engines on and test them in real world conditions.
Maybe they just want to do some upper atmosphere/ionosphere measurements, and the SR-71 is a handy way to get there.
Maybe they want to try operating a telescope from it, using it as a way to get most of Earth's atmosphere out of the way and have less distortion/interference. (There already is such a telescope in operation, based on a commercial airliner, but the SR-71 could go higher and presumably do the job even better.)
Maybe now that they're barred from running climate research satellites, they're looking for an alternative, non-satellite based option they could mount instruments to and take the same measurements from.
Or, most likely, something else I haven't even thought of.
It had a drone that would attach to the top of it too. Way ahead of its time
Hm... Come to think of it, that could be a really cool application for this aircraft in a modern military setting. It was basically untouchable when flying high and fast, which was what made it a good recon aircraft. But in the modern day, it could be used as an equally untouchable drone bomber. During a high-altitude flyby, drop a drone package or two so that they'll fall to earth and then deploy when a few hundred feet from the ground. Then you can use those drones to surgically strike at specific very high value targets, and by the time they hit, the 'bomber' is already long gone. Basically, it could be used as a substitute for spycraft and insurgency, giving a nearly unstoppable way to infiltrate combat drones far, far behind enemy lines.