There isn't a point, other than the fact that this is a vehicle for engineering excellence. That's the whole point. That's science and engineering for you, one thing feeds off another and another. Some things are transferable and go on to greater things, some not. But only by doing all this sort of stuff do we advance.Very eloquent, thank you. But I'm still not sure what difference it makes to anything.
What, for example, is the point of trying to run ground vehicles past Mach 1? If there is a way of doing this for passengers, isn't it reasonably obvious that it's not on the ground?