US, Taiwan spaceport may cut Houston-Taipei travel time to ‘as little as 2½ hours'
Taiwan are exploring the possibility of a groundbreaking spaceport partnership that could slash travel time between them from over half a day to only a couple of hours.
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According to the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), which functions as the de facto US embassy in the absence of formal ties, the proposed collaboration will focus on suborbital flights – an emerging form of space transport in which a vehicle briefly exits the Earth's atmosphere before re-entering and gliding to a runway landing.
'Possible spaceport cooperation is awaiting further evaluation and discussion,' the AIT said in a social media post on Monday.
'If suborbital flights were used, travel time between Taipei and Houston could be shortened to as little as 2½ hours. Houston's Ellington Airport already has a legal spaceport licence.'
Suborbital flights are still in the experimental phase but could revolutionise long-distance travel in the coming decades. A direct commercial flight between Taipei and Houston now takes about 14½ hours.
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Initially developed for research and military purposes, suborbital flights are now being explored for tourism and ultra-fast cargo delivery. Apart from the US, mainland China and Russia are also looking at developing commercial services.
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