Message posted by Frank Stamm on September 13, 2006 at 18:30:11 PST:
We may be discussing a common airframe but different engines. Pop Sci refers to a ramjet and the x43a is a scramjet. Two different animals. The ramjet was similar to the V-1 Buzz Bomb, old tech, but a newer high tech engine may have been used on the Aurora. The scramjet tested on the x43a was boosted to mid mach on a Pegasus booster and is also air breathing. The Aurora may have been propelled by a rocket to a speed and altitude where the ramjet power takes over. This would explain the doughnuts on a rope contrails. The current or next generation Aurora may be where the scramjet is going.
It never sat well with me that the SR-71 was retired to let an older U-2 take its place. I have always believed something else was operational to replace the SR.
My two cents.
In Reply to: Re: Aurora: Back In Black? posted by Peter Merlin on September 13, 2006 at 15:36:59 PST:
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