From: skunk-works-digest-owner@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu To: skunk-works-digest@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu Subject: Skunk Works Digest V4 #110 Reply-To: skunk-works-digest@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu Errors-To: skunk-works-digest-owner@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu Precedence: bulk Skunk Works Digest Friday, 7 January 1994 Volume 04 : Number 110 In this issue: NASA PR Release on F-104 with Periscope Re: booms, F-117 Re: booms, F-117 Re: booms, F-117 Groom Lake Field Trip, Jan. 15 See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the skunk-works or skunk-works-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "JOHN R. LEWIS, PH.D." Date: Thu, 06 Jan 1994 09:45:54 -0400 (EDT) Subject: NASA PR Release on F-104 with Periscope Newsgroups: sci.space.news Path: martha.utcc.utk.edu!darwin.sura.net!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!ames!dont-send-mail-to-path-lines From: sdd@larc.nasa.gov (Steve Derry) Subject: HQ 94-2/REVD Message-ID: <2gfg59$3d@reznor.larc.nasa.gov> To: sci-space-news@uunet.uu.net Followup-To: sci.space Sender: digester@news.arc.nasa.gov Nntp-Posting-Host: jmsparc.larc.nasa.gov Reply-To: s.d.derry@larc.nasa.gov Organization: NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA USA X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL8] Date: Wed, 5 Jan 1994 22:49:13 GMT Approved: sci-space-news@ames.arc.nasa.gov Content-Length: 3616 Lines: 87 Drucella Andersen Headquarters, Washington, D.C. January 5, 1994 (Phone: 202/358-4701) Don Nolan Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, Calif. (Phone: 805/258-3447) RELEASE: 94-2 NASA DEVELOPS ENHANCED RUNWAY VIEWS FOR SUPERSONIC PILOTS NASA is testing a new optical system that would let pilots see the runway during nose-high landings without relying on complex mechanical structures or computer-generated views. The Research External Vision Display (REVD) is a system of lenses and mirrors that reflects the view of the runway under the nose of the aircraft to a pilot in the cockpit. It does not need electronics or video cameras and has no moving parts. NASA started flight tests of the device on Dec. 23, 1993, using a modified F-104 aircraft at Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, Calif. "Pilots of supersonic aircraft usually land at a high angle-of-attack to maintain the descent rate at low speeds. This may block runway visibility at a crucial time during landing," said NASA project pilot Steve Ishmael. "The REVD system, which is basically an upside-down periscope, could be an effective solution." The project will collect data to see how suitable such a system is to land an aircraft. Up to 20 flights are planned in the current test schedule. The program is slated to conclude by the end of January. An REVD-like system could help pilots of a future U.S. supersonic airliner see the runway during the landing approach. The concepts for such a plane have a long, pointed nose that rules out forward-looking windows. The European Concorde and Russian Tu-144 supersonic transports attack the problem by dropping the entire nose in front of the windshield. This approach works, but the mechanism that moves the nose is heavy, complex and expensive. Another option is to equip a supersonic aircraft with video cameras or have an onboard computer create a "synthetic" view of the runway based on input from different types of sensors. But the electronic components in cameras and computers are not as durable as a simple mirror system, and video cameras have only one-hundredth the resolution of the human eye. Future hypersonic aircraft, which would fly at more than five times the speed of sound, are expected to have similar problems with forward visibility. Even heat-resistant glass, if developed, could be damaged by impacts of raindrops or dust particles. Installation of the device on the two-seat NASA F-104 requires a fairing extending from the fuselage just below the cockpit. The fairing houses the lower part of the REVD system, which looks out from beneath the aircraft and reflects the view up to the pilot in the rear cockpit. Future designs may eliminate the fairing, which protrudes into the airstream. This could be done by recessing the REVD into the fuselage or by designing a retractable device that would drop down during landings. The NASA-Dryden Project Manager is Roy Bryant. The project is a joint effort of Dryden; NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain View, Calif.; the National Aero-Space Plane Joint Program Office at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio; Lockheed Forth Worth Company, Texas; Kaiser Optical Electronics, Carlsbad, Calif.; and Systems Technologies Inc., Mountain View, Calif. -end- NOTE TO EDITORS: Photos and video to accompany this release are available to media representatives by calling the Dryden Public Affairs Office, 805/258-3447. ------------------------------ From: PHARABOD@frcpn11.in2p3.fr Date: Thu, 06 Jan 94 15:52:41 MET Subject: Re: booms, F-117 >The flight before last, the SR-71 boomed an array of seismic stations >here in SoCal. We're helping the calibrate their sensors. This is part >of the same sensor network that told us about the northbound Mach 5 >overflights of the L A basin. >Mary Shafer (Wed, 5 Jan 1994 16:59:47 -0500 (EST)) Is it possible to know: - - why this experiment has been made ? - - who decided that it should be made ? J. Pharabod ------------------------------ From: Mary Shafer Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 10:51:02 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: booms, F-117 Certainly. The experiment was performed because it was considered by project and facility management to be an appropriate use of the resources. It was also considered to be cost-effective. If you're asking how you can get an SR-71 to do something for you, the easiest way is to send money. Lots of money. The next best is to come up with something that has a good purpose and a low cost. Don't ask for mods to the aircraft unless you're prepared to a) fund them and b) take responsibility for their flightworthiness. Mary Shafer DoD #0362 KotFR shafer@ursa-major.spdcc.com On Thu, 6 Jan 1994 PHARABOD@frcpn11.in2p3.fr wrote: > >The flight before last, the SR-71 boomed an array of seismic stations > >here in SoCal. We're helping the calibrate their sensors. This is part > >of the same sensor network that told us about the northbound Mach 5 > >overflights of the L A basin. > >Mary Shafer (Wed, 5 Jan 1994 16:59:47 -0500 (EST)) > > Is it possible to know: > - why this experiment has been made ? > - who decided that it should be made ? > > J. Pharabod ------------------------------ From: John Erling Blad Date: Thu, 6 Jan 1994 18:56:54 +0100 Subject: Re: booms, F-117 Hi! > Three sensors in a small (10s of meters) >array would do the trick. It wouldn't work well if the flight path was >too close to the array, .. >...Russ Can you please explain this, because if Im not in error (I usually are) I think you will estimate the speed and direction of the traveling wave. A possible solution is to place arrays on each side of a possible flightpath, and do some assumptions about the actual fligthprofile. It should be possible to use arrays of to sensors because the duality can be solved by assumptions. Possible el cheapo solutions: Use three stereophonic taperecorders with two microphones each, and locate each array several tens of miles from each other. If you and youre frends are accurate when you starts the taperecorders, and the taperecorders are accurate ( this is no problem if the recorders have syncronmotors ), then you can collect the tapes and analyse them later. In fact you can just listen to them an note the different time of arrival. This last method work with just one mic. at each recorder. The main problem is that you cant neglect the higth if you must record an audible boom. Then you must know a flightpath and an estimateted time of arrival.. John With the wellknown backspace-editor. ------------------------------ From: psychospy@aol.com Date: Thu, 06 Jan 94 22:38:20 EST Subject: Groom Lake Field Trip, Jan. 15 Bill Sweetman, Jim Goodall, John Andrews and other black aircraft gurus and adventurers will be hiking Freedom Ridge to view the secret Groom Lake test facility on Sat. Jan. 15, 1993. Everyone's invited! See for yourself the base that doesn't exist (legally, from public land) and meet the esteemed a viation experts who don't know much more about it than the rest of us. This informal and loosely structured weekend event will begin about 10 am at Freedom Ridge, about 2-1/2 hours north of Las Vegas (plus a 50 minute hike). There is no firm schedule, but after viewing the Groom base for a while, the group is expected to make its way about 130 miles westward to the border of the Tonopah Test Range to view that facility from public land (Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning). The gathering will end whenever people choose to leave. There is no cost and no reservations are required. Just show up. Although the Air Force has applied to seize Freedom Ridge, it remains public land at present, and that means anyone who wants can come to our get-together. You will not be arrested or harassed if you do not cross the well marked border. (Security forces will be watching, but they keep their distance for events like this.) How to get there: Gas up in Las Vegas. From there, take I-15 north to US-93 north to NV-375 west. At milepost LN 34.6 on NV-375, turn west on the long dirt road and follow it for 13.6 miles until you see our cars. (Parked beside a Keep Right sign. Do NOT pass the posted Keep Out signs just beyond.) If we are not at the cars, follow the trail marked by yellow ribbons for about 50 minutes (staying outside the orange border posts) and there you will find us, binoculars pointed west. (The hike is strenuous for the first 15 min. but easier after that.) Things to bring: warm clothing for possible winds and 30-50 degree weather, sturdy hiking shoes, the best binoculars or telescope you have, snacks and water. 4WD is handy for exploring, but any car can reach the parking place. (A closer route is possible for 4WD.) The military is sensitive about photography of their secret base (even though pictures of it have been widely published) so if you have a camera, read the posted warning signs and keep your device out of sight. Accommodations: We suggest visitors spend Friday night in Las Vegas and Saturday night in Tonopah. Limited lodging may also be available in Rachel and Alamo. Meals could be irregular (probably in Rachel and Tonopah), so bring snacks to tide you over. For more info, contact Glenn Campbell: email psychospy@aol.com or call 702-729-2648.u ------------------------------ End of Skunk Works Digest V4 #110 ********************************* To subscribe to skunk-works-digest, send the command: subscribe skunk-works-digest in the body of a message to "listserv@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu". If you want to subscribe something other than the account the mail is coming from, such as a local redistribution list, then append that address to the "subscribe" command; for example, to subscribe "local-skunk-works": subscribe skunk-works-digest local-skunk-works@your.domain.net To unsubscribe, send mail to the same address, with the command: unsubscribe skunk-works-digest in the body. Administrative requests, problems, and other non-list mail can be sent to either "skunk-works-digest-owner@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu" or, if you don't like to type a lot, "prm@ecn.purdue.edu". 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