From: skunk-works-digest-owner@mail.orst.edu To: skunk-works-digest@mail.orst.edu Subject: Skunk Works Digest V5 #373 Reply-To: skunk-works-digest@mail.orst.edu Errors-To: skunk-works-digest-owner@mail.orst.edu Precedence: bulk Skunk Works Digest Thursday, 3 August 1995 Volume 05 : Number 373 In this issue: Re: stray thoughts Re: stray thoughts SR-71 Re: Skunk Works Digest V5 #372 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: Mary Shafer Date: Wed, 2 Aug 1995 14:39:25 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: stray thoughts The Perseus crashed about 6 months ago, from about 40,000 ft, right after a switch to the backup system (because a gyro failed), but it hadn't been aloft for that long. How certain is that figure? The Perseus was designed to go to 80,000 ft, but they've had some real problems with the engine. Regards, Mary Mary Shafer DoD #0362 KotFR shafer@ursa-major.spdcc.com URL http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/People/Shafer/mary.html Some days it don't come easy/And some days it don't come hard Some days it don't come at all/And these are the days that never end.... On Tue, 1 Aug 1995, Al Jagnow wrote: > Just a few stray thoughts > 1. A few months back something crashed at Edwards after being aloft > at about 40,000 ft for about 4 weeks. The crash occurred immediately > after navigation was switched over to the secondary system. I > remember something in the notes about it carrying a 60kW fuel cell. > 2. Los Alamos Labs has developed an (almost) room temperature > superconducting ceramic wire. > 3. Somewhere (can't remember) I saw a note about electric motors > capable of developing something like 8 hp per pound. > 4. Laser Focus World recently had an article about optically active > organic films. > 5. The state-of-the-art in radar absorbing coatings has advanced > tremendosly so there is no longer such a huge weight penalty. > > Speculation: > > How about an electric helicopter (or some kind of similar ducted fan > type craft) powered by a fuel cell, covered with an > organic-radar-absorbing-color-changing film. (A film that can change > color to match the background or the sky?) You would need lights on > it (or a luminescent organic film) to be able to match the > illumination of the daytime sky when seen from below. It could use > GPS navigation and could carry multi-spectral video equipment with an > up-link to a satellite. It could also be a large aperture passive > radar receiver. > > At an altitude of 40,000 + feet, such a craft would be unobservable > from the ground except when it eclipsed stars or the moon at night > (need to be careful about the moon). If it was stealthy enough it > might even be difficult to observe from the air - even at close > range. (If you were a pilot would you report a pink helicopter > hovering at 40,000 ft that didn't show on your radar?) > > It seems that the technology for such a craft exists. The question > is: Has such a craft been constructed, and is it operational? > > I could even speculate that such a craft might be funded through DEA > as part of the "war on drugs." - it might not be as secure as > normal military channels, but it might be easier to hide ?? just > another stray thought....................... ------------------------------ From: "Matt Velazquez" Date: 2 Aug 1995 16:17:39 U Subject: Re: stray thoughts Reply to: RE>>stray thoughts The second Perseus A aircraft (AU-003) crashed at 36,000 ft on November 22, 1995, just after the engine was turned off and the airplane committed to coming home. The powerplant is, in fact, 60 kW, but it's a closed-cycle reciprocating engine. It had been aloft for about three hours, and the team had been deployed to Dryden for much longer than four weeks. T Velazquez Aurora Flight Sciences (no, not that Aurora) ------------------------------ From: (SSG, ANTHONY, MAA, 565) Date: Wed, 2 Aug 95 11:26:35 PDT Subject: SR-71 From the July 28, 1995 _Space Sentinel_ (Beale AFB newspaper): BLACKBIRD TO FLY IN AUGUST Edwards AFB, CA - The SR-71 Blackbirds scheduled out of Plant 42 in Palmdale, CA will fly an extensive schedule during August. The refurbished SR-71's, which are returning to service under a $30M contract, reach speeds of Mach 3.23, about 2,100 MPH. During the next month, 13 flights are scheduled to be flown. All missions are related to the reactivation of SR-71 operations within the Air Force. Flights will last three to four hours. A detachment from the 9th Reconnaissance Wing will be stationed at Edwards and will operate the aircraft. The schedule calls for the unit to be ready for actual reconnaissance missions by Sept 1. Just FYI. Tony ------------------------------ From: ConsLaw@aol.com Date: Thu, 3 Aug 1995 00:22:21 -0400 Subject: Re: Skunk Works Digest V5 #372 Jblue wrote >Why not a UAV designed for high-speed overflight, if for nothing else but to avoid the political ramifications of Gary Powers type incidents?< - -This theory was behind some of the Aurora speculations. The legend goes like this: At least one unmanned prototype of "Aurora" was produced and flown at at least mach 3. Manned versions were to follow (but perhaps not _exclusively_ manned versions). For unknown reasons, the project was cancelled. Lack of money? lack ofperformance? both? Who knows. > Along this line, why was the D-21 program unsuccessful. Would not a major D-21 problem, hatch/imagery recovery, be eliminated by current satelite relay technology.< - -The bigger problem with the D-21 is they couldn't land it. Now remote control technology is much better. Even so, I suspect it will be much easier to land a big-winged TR2+ than some kind of supersonic RPV. ------------------------------ End of Skunk Works Digest V5 #373 ********************************* To subscribe to skunk-works-digest, send the command: subscribe skunk-works-digest in the body of a message to "majordomo@mail.orst.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. 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