I once read they had serious overheating problems.
As you say, one major problem was that the aircraft skin got really hot from friction - hot enough that they had to build it out of a special titanium alloy, and paint it with heat resistant paint - but that was inadequate. Due to the heating and cooling that occurred each cycle the entire airframe would expand and contract very substantially - over repeat cycles this lead to metal fatigue, and would lead to failure but not for incessant expensive maintenance. For an idea of how much the thing expands, on the final flight of the model now at RNAS Yeovilton, the flight engineer stuck his cap between the engineering console and the bulkhead, where it remains sandwiched by pressure today.
Apart from the thermal issues, the entire craft suffered from “so cutting edge it barely works” all over, from special tyre compounds to window seals to the famous drop nose. It was an engineering marvel and nightmare, in one improbable package. It’s frankly surprising it even ever existed.
I think the major difference will be that Concorde was a space age plane built with 60’s tech, and these will Be space age planes built with space age tech.
SpaceX has like 9 or so failed landings until they pulled it off. If Boom keep iterating fast enough, I think they have a good chance of being successful.
Wasn't the 60's the space age, though? :)
I have the feeling much of the tech of the last century was too much for the people living at the time.
Yes, they found out about fusion and fission, but there are no viable fusion reactors out there and even the fission ones are highly problematic.
Yes, they build super sonic planes but they barely held together or did cost a fortune.
Yes, the send people to space, but how many and at what price?
We even had super computers and main frames, but it took half a century to get this tech in every home AND then some time to get it in everyones pocket.
Last century was more of a industrial mass market thing. The stuff from the 1800 was finally available for the rest of us.
The whole high tech stuff was discovered at the time but it wasn't really usable, even if it was still used, see concord or fission based power plants.
On the other hand, the risk we took for the power plants was probably set off by getting electricity to everyone and allowing the industrial age tech to work more wide spread.
Anyway, I think we are in more of a space age now than we were back in the days.
Seriously, I understand that you meant "space age" as "contemporary" but in fact, the term _should_ still refer to the age in which it was coined and represents the big leaps and bounds in the eponymous technology.