WHAT WAS THE BLACKBIRDS TOP SPEED? MACH 3+ ?

“45,000 horsepower is required to drive a 25 ton plane 1500 miles an hour (MACH 2.27) at 70,000 feet. … The power requirement would jump to 200,000 horsepower at sea level because of greater air resistance.”

U.S. May Push Efforts to Make Atomic Engine

Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File); Sep 28, 1949;

ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Times

pg. 12

45,000 horsepower 25 ton plane 1500 mph or MACH 2.27 @ 70,000 feet.

Nuclear Turbo Ramjet Lockheed A-12

320,000 horsepower 25 ton plane 2212 mph @ 90,000?

Using two PLUTO 500 megawatt ramjet engines a 75 ton SR-71 has 1,341,022 horsepower. This means extrapolating from the NACA numbers, it has 9.933496296 times the power needed to travel 1,500 mph at 70,000 feet. It could travel 14900 mph or Mach-23. If we extrapolate from the CIA 320,000 horsepower, then the PLUTO 500 megawatt engine had 4.19069375 times the horsepower. It could travel 14900.244444446 or Mach-23. This makes an average of Mach-23.

Using two PLUTO 600 megawatt engines a 75 ton SR-71 had 1,609,226 horsepower. This means extrapolating from the NACA numbers, it has 12 times the power needed to travel 1,500 mph at 70,000 feet. It could travel 17880 mph or Mach-27.

THIS MAKES THE SR-71 AN ORBITAL SPACE PLANE. 

The A-12 also had the horsepower to fly at Mach-3+ at sea level. 

The space shuttle orbiter, we know, orbits at around 8,000 meters per second (18,000 miles per hour) but it does a complete orbit in about 90 minutes. Would a geostationary satellite be going faster or slower?

Physics Buzz: Geostationary orbit: Are satellites faster than t

physicsbuzz.physicscentral.com/2011/07/geostationary-orbit-are-satellites.html