Message posted by Sundog on February 15, 2004 at 13:37:13 PST:
The most plausible configuration for a high speed, hypersonic, aircraft I have seen yet is on page 198 of the book "Dark Eagles" by Curtis Peebles. However, he shows it being launched from the back of the Brilliant Buzzard, which I seriously doubt. Partly based on the sitings around the world and by some some of the people who have posted here of a triangular "fast mover" launching out of Groom and partly because all the reports indicate only two Brilliant Buzzards were built. I would also guess those aircraft were more likely the first stage of a TSTO (Two Stage To Orbit) launch vehicle. I would also add, as some have suggested here and you will find at some of the pages throughout this site, that the hish speed aircraft you are refering to is more likely the Astra (Ad Astra) rather than the Aurora. Some here have stated the Aurora never got off the ground and there is the other story which states that Aurora was the development code name for the B-2, but I don't know if I buy that since everyone knew we were working on the ATB at the time. If you go to the website attached below, you will find many patents posted there regarding advanced aircraft technology. One, which I find most interesting is the laser combustion engine. I have wondered about a such an engine (Using a laser instead of a combustion ring) but not in the application as they show it. However, based on what is shown in the patent, I wonder if it could be used as a lift engine? I only bring that up because of the triangular UFO's that have been spotted and caught on film in Europe (Belgium and England mostly) because if you look at the central light in those movies, the central light tends to be behave sort of like a flame. Not knowing what a laser combustion engine looks like in operation, I have wondered if that could be a lift engine on that vehicle as by controling the fuel misting/vaporization within the "dome" shaped housing you should be able to "vector" the thrust within limits to central vectorable lift engine. I say vector in the sense of controling the vehicle while in hover, not forward flight as in the Harrier. It could have normal turbofans, or possibly PDE's for forward flight buried in the wing with inlets and exhausts on the upper surface. This is all specualtion on my part though, based on what little info available on the black triangles seen through out Europe. The other thing you will want to note is that within the Lockheed Martin patent on their PDE it states that PDE's are excellent for high speed aircraft because they do not suffer from inlet unstarts like the Black Bird did. I think the significance of that statement alone can not be underestimated. The new thermal protection system patent is noteworthy as well.
In Reply to: Re: regarding your request for info on aurora posted by Chris on February 13, 2004 at 10:52:50 PST:
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