Word: ssts
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...There were prophecies that supersonic aircraft would emit such great quantities of water vapor that a permanent cloud barrier would shut out the sun; this "greenhouse" effect would dangerously raise the earth's surface temperature. There were also predictions of skin cancer epidemics: nitrogen oxides released by the SSTs would destroy the ozone layer that partly shields the earth against the sun's lethal ultraviolet radiation. Then too, the SST's fumes were denounced as a potential new cause of massive pollution...
...large, these dangers have turned out to be exaggerated. Most scientists now believe that it would take a fleet of at least 100 SSTs to produce even a minimal greenhousing effect; no more than 16 Concordes are likely to be manufactured. Future generations of SSTs will probably be designed to emit much less water vapor. As for pollution, the plane's emissions fall within generally accepted levels. The available evidence does not substantiate the fears of ozone destruction. Compared with the thousands of U.S., Soviet and West European supersonic warplanes that crisscross the skies, the tiny Concorde fleet could...
...Concorde's faults, like those of the first generation of almost any other technological breakthrough, make it the ugly duckling of its species. But through experience gained by maximum usage of the Concorde, developers of future SSTs should be able to move up the learning curve to design cleaner, quieter and more efficient supersonic planes. By banning the plane, New York would exclude itself from this pioneering process-an odd role for a city that prides itself on being a pacesetter for the world. Thus, before Concorde service at J.F.K. is ruled detrimental to the commonweal, the big bird...
...Soviets have already put one of their SSTs (nicknamed "Concordski" by Westerners because of design features obviously copied from the British-French plane) into service on a domestic cargo and mail run from Moscow to the central Asian city of Alma-Ata. The Concorde is not far behind. The French plan to start SST service later this month from Paris to the Senegalese capital of Dakar (2,860 miles) and then on to Rio de Janeiro (another 3,189 miles). At the same time, Britain will launch Concorde flights from London's Heathrow for the 3,162-mile trip...
...potentially disastrous effects of nitric oxides, which also strip ozone of its third atom and reduce it to ordinary oxygen. Large amounts of nitric oxides are given off by the exhausts of supersonic aircraft, and a recent M.I.T. study (TIME, Sept. 9) indicates that a fleet of 500 SSTs flying regularly in or near the ozone layer would deplete it by 12% within 25 years. In the past few months, scientists have been emphasizing the even greater menace of nuclear explosions, which generate huge amounts of nitric oxides. A nuclear war, or atmospheric testing, they say, might at least temporarily...