Technologies That Never Happened

Below is a list of technologies that never happened or may have happened by failed for one reason or another (i.e. didn't work at the time, not right for the time, not enough funding, etc.). For example, one of biggest grips is that we don't have supersonic commercial airplanes. The Concorde was a great idea, but failed for several other reasons.

Although, some of these ideas are starting to be researched again, and may actually see the light of day. While other of these idea were just too dangerous, and never say the light of day.

Sea Dragon (rocket) [from Wikipedia]

"The Sea Dragon was a 1962 conceptualized design study for a two-stage sea-launched orbital super heavy-lift launch vehicle. The project was led by Robert Truax while working at Aerojet, one of a number of designs he created that were to be launched by floating the rocket in the ocean. Although there was some interest at both NASA and Todd Shipyards, the project was not implemented. At the massive dimensions of 150 m (490 ft) long and 23 m (75 ft) in diameter, Sea Dragon would have been the largest rocket ever built. As of 2018, among rockets that have been fully conceived, it is by far the largest ever and, in terms of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO), rivaled only by the Interplanetary Transport System in its expendable configuration."

Watch the video below for more information

Ground-Effect Vehicle (GEV) [from Wikipedia]

"A ground-effect vehicle (GEV), also called a wing-in-ground-effect (WIG), ground-effect craft, wingship or in Russian: экраноплан (translit.: êkranoplan), is a vehicle that is designed to attain sustained flight over a level surface (usually over the sea) by making use of ground effect, the aerodynamic interaction between the wings and the surface. The type is typically intended to operate from water like a flying boat, but some can operate over any flat area such as frozen lakes or flat plains similar to a hovercraft."

Watch the video below for more information

Commercial Supersonic Transport [from Wikipedia]

"A supersonic transport (SST) is a civilian supersonic aircraft designed to transport passengers at speeds greater than the speed of sound. To date, the only SSTs to see regular service have been Concorde and the Tupolev Tu-144. The last passenger flight of the Tu-144 was in June 1978 and it was last flown in 1999 by NASA. Concorde's last commercial flight was in October 2003, with a November 26, 2003 ferry flight being its last airborne operation. Following the permanent cessation of flying by Concorde, there are no remaining SSTs in commercial service. Several companies have each proposed a supersonic business jet, which may bring supersonic transport back again.

Supersonic airliners have been the objects of numerous recent and ongoing design studies. Drawbacks and design challenges are excessive noise generation (at takeoff and due to sonic booms during flight), high development costs, expensive construction materials, high fuel consumption, and an increased cost per seat over subsonic airliners. Despite these challenges, Concorde was claimed to operate profitably, although that was due to write off of all development and construction costs plus the willingness of passengers to pay high fares."

Watch the video below for more information

Nuclear-Powered Aircraft [from Wikipedia]

"A nuclear-powered aircraft is a concept for an aircraft intended to be powered by nuclear energy. The intention was to produce a jet engine that would heat compressed air with heat from fission, instead of heat from burning fuel. During the Cold War, the United States and Soviet Union researched nuclear-powered bomber aircraft, the greater endurance of which could enhance nuclear deterrence, but neither country created any such operational aircraft.

One inadequately solved design problem was the need for heavy shielding to protect the crew and those on the ground from acute radiation syndrome; other potential problems included dealing with crashes."

Ford Nucleon [from Wikipedia]

"The Ford Nucleon is a concept car developed by Ford in 1957 designed as a future nuclear-powered car, one of a handful of such designs during the 1950s and '60s. The concept was only demonstrated as a scale model. The design did not include an internal-combustion engine; rather, the vehicle was to be powered by a small nuclear reactor in the rear of the vehicle, based on the assumption that this would one day be possible by reducing sizes. The car was to use a steam engine powered by uranium fission similar to those found in nuclear submarines."

Magnetohydrodynamic Drive [from Wikipedia]

"A magnetohydrodynamic drive or MHD accelerator is a method for propelling vehicles using only electric and magnetic fields with no moving parts, accelerating an electrically conductive propellant (liquid or gas) with magnetohydrodynamics. The fluid is directed to the rear and as a reaction, the vehicle accelerates forward.

The first studies examining MHD in the field of marine propulsion date back to the early 1960s.

Few large-scale working prototypes have been built, as marine MHD propulsion remains impractical due to its low efficiency, limited by the low electrical conductivity of seawater. Increasing current density is limited by Joule heating and water electrolysis in the vicinity of electrodes, and increasing the magnetic field strength is limited by the cost, size and weight (as well as technological limitations) of electromagnets and the power available to feed them.

Stronger technical limitations apply to air-breathing MHD propulsion (where ambient air is ionized) that is still limited to theoretical concepts and early experiments."

Kinetic Bombardment (aka "Rods from God") [from Wikipedia]

"A kinetic bombardment or a kinetic orbital strike is the hypothetical act of attacking a planetary surface with an inert projectile, where the destructive force comes from the kinetic energy of the projectile impacting at very high speeds. The concept originated during the Cold War.

The typical depiction of the tactic is of a satellite containing a magazine of tungsten rods and a directional thrust system. (In science fiction, the weapon is often depicted as being launched from a spaceship, instead of a satellite.) When a strike is ordered, the launch vehicle would brake[1] one of the rods out of its orbit and into a suborbital trajectory that intersects the target. As the rod approaches periapsis due to gravity, it picks up immense speed until it reaches terminal velocity shortly before impact. The rods would typically be shaped to minimize air resistance and maximize terminal velocity.

Kinetic bombardment has the advantage of being able to deliver projectiles from a very high angle at a very high speed, making them extremely difficult to defend against. In addition, projectiles would not require explosive warheads, and—in the simplest designs—would consist entirely of solid metal rods, giving rise to the common nickname "Rods from God". Disadvantages include the technical difficulties of ensuring accuracy and the high costs of positioning ammunition in orbit."

Flying Cars [from Wikipedia]

"A flying car is a type of personal air vehicle or roadable aircraft that provides door-to-door transportation by both ground and air. The term "flying car" is also sometimes used to include hovercars.

Many prototypes have been built since the first years of the twentieth century using a variety of flight technologies and some have true VTOL performance, but no flying car has yet reached production status."