Project Aurora; Hyper Mach Prototype

[Lionheart]

Hey guys,

This is an article I found on the Aurora. Rumors have it that its already cancelled and something else is now running in its place. Reports of the famous contrails and ripping thunder/booms it was noted for have fallen away and are no longer reported, (unless they are testing it somewhere else now).

The shape is quite wild. This craft uses the sonic 'cone' shape of the wind in the air, which at hyper speeds is quite solid, and use that structure of wind as a 'engine cone'. They bleed off a special fuel (pretty much hydrogen), and ignite it in pulses, sort of like a ramjet or pulsejet.

I wonder what each impact of detonation produces in lateral G forces, or if its even 'felt' with the wind being 'unattached'. Perhaps its a soft ride, doing 16 to 20 Mach speeds...

Here is the link.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/pde.htm


Bill

[Lionheart]

Does anyone remember that top down photo at an airforcebase of a strange small vehicle that was this shape, taken from a Google Earth photo?


Bill

[mike_cyul]

Well, it looks easy on the polys, that's for sure. :d

Sorry, couldn't resist.


Mike

[Drake]

I remember seeing those 'donut on a rope' contrails around here when that plane was reportedly flying.

[Lionheart]

I remember seeing those 'donut on a rope' contrails around here when that plane was reportedly flying.

Hey Drake,


Yep.. That was its contrail. Were you able to hear it?


I wonder if they were able to sling-shot that thing into space?



Bill

[stansdds]

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b81/stansdds/Smilies/Youwillforget.gif

[Drake]

Hey Drake,


Yep.. That was its contrail. Were you able to hear it?


I wonder if they were able to sling-shot that thing into space?



Bill

Don't remember hearing anything out of the ordinary, but there so much military traffic around here (I live near Eglin AFB) that you become used to it and don't pay much attention.


Might want to do some searching on the SR-72 Blackswift. Supposedly DARPA cancelled it but I really think it went black.

[Railrunner130]

I remember reading where (according to Ben Rich, who ran the Skunk Works) that the Aurora was Lockheed's entry into the Stealth Bomber competition. So, assuming that statement was not intended to be a diversion, the Aurora is dead.

However, I've also read that the "black programs" received a huge boost in FY08, supposedly for the B-3. Essentially, it's a twin engine B-2.

With the current bomber employment, I think it would be more financially viable (as well as faster to develop and produce) to convert a 767 or similar airframe to loiter for an extended period and drop a variety bombs on command via data link/laser designator/latest generation targeting system.

[Drake]

I was just reading an interesting article on the next stealth bomber in Popular Mechanics yesterday. It was all 99.9% speculation for the most part I think.

[Lionheart]

I was just reading an interesting article on the next stealth bomber in Popular Mechanics yesterday. It was all 99.9% speculation for the most part I think.

Dis-information, lol.. arrghh.. What we do have though must be wild and exotic...



Bill

[tigisfat]

Does anyone remember that top down photo at an airforcebase of a strange small vehicle that was this shape, taken from a Google Earth photo?


Bill


I'd love to see that. Can you remember where you got it?

[Lionheart]

I'd love to see that. Can you remember where you got it?

If I can find it, I'll post it. Shows it parked in front of an F-16, blanket over it. Almost the same shape as Aurora, but very small. Aurora is supposedly huge for a one man vehicle, so this looks more like a drone.



Bill

[Lionus]

Funny.. Most "Aurora" sites say that it has pulse jet engine which would explain the donut trail.. but pulse Jets are rather inefficient and loud, while being somewhat reliable. I believe that most likely powerplant for that aircraft is ramjet or even more likely a scramjet, while regular fighterjet engines would provide thrust until +1 mach speeds. old arcade flyer on playstation, Ace Combat, featured it. it looked pretty much like NASA's hypersonic testbeds, but it was black, something along these lines..

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Aurora_spyplane_3-view.jpg

[Drake]

I've got a Micro Machine of that design Lionus. I've always wished that someone had made it for FS2004.

[mcjerkyls]

Man I would love to know what they have now. I would marry the SR-71 if I could. So many cool stories, like back in the 60's, one was flying over the UK, and a British pilot saw it(he reported a black craft he never saw before, but noted USAF markings), tried to pull up to it, but when the 71 jocks noticed him, the Englishman heard a loud BANG, and poof no more plane. He reported it as a UFO! No plane could fly that fast:costumes: Plus stories of blackbird pirates who toyed with russian defense systems, and outran the missles!

[Lionheart]

Man I would love to know what they have now.

Roger that! lol... I remember how the 71 was still secret in the early 60's. So if its 48 years into the future, surely we have some wild, exotic craft up flying that must really be amazing...

Lionus,

That craft was seen many times, including over England and being refueled by a tanker plane with figher escorts. I dont think its an Aurora though. I believe that one uses Scramjet, judging by the look of the airframe. (Scram Jets use nacelle engine housings that compress the air, while Aurora used bleeder nozzles that fed a hydrogen like fuel into the Sonic Cone, and would ignite the fuel in pulses).



I 'might' say the concept of using Pulse Jet with the sound barrier as a engine cone is radical yet basic or almost primitive. But it evidently flies well or at least fast. :d



Bill