US 'mystery' plane from Nick Cook.

Please excuse me if this subject has been spoken of before,
but I recenty watched a programme where Jane's Defence
Weekly journalist Nick Cook searched for strange and
undisclosed aircraft in the United States.

At the end of the documentary, Nick showed a photograph
taken from a satellite of the USA from the east to the west
coast, the image showed a strange contrail that started in
upper Nevada, continued eastwards and flew out into the
Atlantic.

The image indicated that the unknown object was extremely
fast and reached speeds that are unheard of at this time.

Can anyone help with further information?

I think I can. Do a search ATS on the Aurora, this is the aircraft that Nick Cook was probably talking about I watched the same show, Nick Cook seems to be legit, almost as legit for the Aurora herself.

The contrail is unreal how it follows states borders from Nevada all the way to the Atlantic ocean, must take the Aurora at least 20 minutes to fly that far!

I created a thread on this the first time the Nick Cook show aired

www.abovetopsecret.com...

That picture could very well be the best evidence to date of a Hyper sonic aircraft operating out of Groom Lake. The strange thing is I could never find the picture Cook showed on the show. I found a low detail version of it with the flight path traced but it wasnt the same thing. If anyone can find the high res picture I would be greatful.

I searched for weeks after the show looked through Jane’s Defence Weekly Nick's site he works for, various databases of weather satellite images since that what it was and found nothing.

Thanks Low Orbit & Shadow XIX,
Like Shadow, I have searched for the image.
Working for a newspaper, I thought I could
access some areas that involve TV programmes
and such, but still there's no image anywhere!

I pondered the Aurora idea, but it seemed that
Mr. Cook was chasing the 'doughnut on a rope'
vehicle.
I'm not too sure what that is, but I seem to remember
something about a pulse propulsion.

Iron Man - "I pondered the Aurora idea, but it seemed that
Mr. Cook was chasing the 'doughnut on a rope'
vehicle.
I'm not too sure what that is, but I seem to remember
something about a pulse propulsion."

I expected more out of you tin man, you should read more accounts of the Aurora, many say it leaves a distinct doughnut on a rope contrail.

I heard it operates with a ram/scram jet but I could be wrong.

Keep searching, there is tons of information online about it.

It has been proven that most military planes can leave a donut on a rope trails but the aurora maybe always leaves a rope trail or a distinctive one. I've never seen the show you guys are talking about but it sounds like this photo is one that could be major proof of a high speed plane. It would be so nice to find and see it.

Originally posted by Low Orbit

I heard it operates with a ram/scram jet but I could be wrong.

Pulse Detonation Wave Engine (PDWE) IIRC would supposedly generate a 'donuts on a rope' contrail. ram/scram/pule jets don't do this far as I know (the air passes right through an open combustion chamber on those engines; where would pressure build up to 'poop' out little puffs of smoke?

A PDWE theoretically functions by creating controlled explosions (detonation rather than combustion) in a closed chamber; each 'bang' creates a pressure wave which is released through an exhaust to provides the engine's thrust.

See why you might expect a PDWE to generate the 'donut on a rope' contrail? IIRC, there is no type of engine in existence that leaves that sort of contrail. I might get a little excited if I saw a funky new spyplane flying in the sky; i'd be MUCH more excited if I saw something laying down a contrail that supposedly can't be done.

From what I remember, there has never been a fully functional PDWE that the public is aware of. I understand that Boeing is (or was) spending a good deal of time and money on developmental efforts regarding this type of propulsion. But to the rest of the world, it's an unproven technology as of yet.

Originally posted by Canada_EH
It has been proven that most military planes can leave a donut on a rope trails but the aurora maybe always leaves a rope trail or a distinctive one. I've never seen the show you guys are talking about but it sounds like this photo is one that could be major proof of a high speed plane. It would be so nice to find and see it.

Are you talking about when the regular contrail would sorta 'coagulate' into these wave-lookin 'puffs'?

I remember reading something that examines the donut on a rope contrail theory. They did prove that a normal jet engine's contrail could shift with wind/pressure or some other factor and leave an impression of the 'donut on a rope' one.

From what I saw though, they are definitely two different things. It was trying to debunk the PDWE theory but didn't do a good job of it IMO.

Ramjets open and close hence they would be able to leave some sort of doughnut on a rope contrail. Scramjets do not open or close and would probably not leave that sort of contrail.

Originally posted by Low Orbit
Ramjets open and close hence they would be able to leave some sort of doughnut on a rope contrail. Scramjets do not open or close and would probably not leave that sort of contrail.

I'm not aware of any jet-type engine that 'opens and closes'? This is off the top of my head so it might not be 100% correct, but the basic principles of how a jet engine functions should be correct.

Here's what my understanding of a jet engine is:

A direct path with an inlet and exhaust, compressing the inlet airflow and introducing a combustable into it; the compressed air/fuel mix is then ignited, along the same direct path, and expanding gasses are expelled through the exhaust providing thrust.

A turbine jet-engine would be a direct path, with an inline compressor along that path which then mixes the compressed air with the fuel spray and is ingited to generate thrust.

A pulse jet-engine functions the same way, but has no compressor section. The shape of the 'combustion chamber' section of the straight path from inlet to outlet creates a sort of venturi effect, drawing in fresh air, the compressed air is then impregnated with the combustable, and the compressed air/fuel mixture is ignited and expanding gasses provide thrust.

And as I understand, a ramjet/scramjet is simply a type of pulsejet engine which takes advantage of inlet airflow at higher speeds; i.e., the ramjet effect that the 'translating spikes' used on the J58 engine generated at higher velocities. At certain velocities the spike would generate a shockwave inside of the engine housing which negates the use of a compressor at that speed.

A scramjet being even simpler in function, but having to operate at significantly higher velocities based on the same atmospheric pressure.

Am I wrong?

[edit on 29-6-2006 by vinrock]

I wouldnt really be suprized if the Aurora programme is really a distraction programme.

Originally posted by tomcat ha
I wouldnt really be suprized if the Aurora programme is really a distraction programme.

I agree with you Tomcat, personally I think the Aurora would make for a great replacement to the stealth bomber. It could be anywhere in the world within hours and hopefully drop its payload at high altitude and high speeds.

vinrock, keep researching.

Originally posted by tomcat ha
I wouldnt really be suprized if the Aurora programme is really a distraction programme.

Aurora is just a name.

Evidence that the US is operating a Hyper-sonic aircraft whatever its name goes well beyond the document that entered the Aurora name into the public domain. This hypersonic aircraft could really be called anything Blackstar, SR-75, Vulture ETC....

Aurora is just a easy name to use to refer to this otherwise nameless hypersonic aircraft.

Well you know there is some secret aircraft out there that we havnt heard about yet. Its a fact and im bettin it could travel pretty fast.

Do you think that after announcing all the secret aircraft that they developed that they would just stop developing secret aircraft?

I just cant wait till they announce what it is, in about 20 years.

Originally posted by Low Orbit

vinrock, keep researching.

Can you clarify for me? Off the bat, I went to Wikipedia to start refreshing on propulsion systems (starting with ramjets) and the first paragraph opens as:

"A ramjet, sometimes referred to as a stovepipe jet, is a type of jet engine. It contains no (major) moving parts and can be particularly useful in applications requiring a small and simple engine for high speed use; such as missiles."

I know Wikipedia is only useful to point you in the direction (not smart to use Wikipedia for fact-checking, IMO), so far this is telling me that I need to spend more time than I have right now researching the subject.

Thanks.

Originally posted by North Rider
Well you know there is some secret aircraft out there that we havnt heard about yet. Its a fact and im bettin it could travel pretty fast.

The speculation goes well beyond just the goverment having a fast secret plane. Its role (recon) speed (hypersonic mach 5+) altitude (Sub orbital) Propulsion systems (PDE, Ramjet) etc..

Originally posted by North Rider
Do you think that after announcing all the secret aircraft that they developed that they would just stop developing secret aircraft?

Well in the case of secret recon planes thats exactly what the US wants us all to think. We where told when they retired the SR-71 satellites could do the job cheaper just forget the fact that we still fly the U2 for that role and created the Global Hawk rather recently for that same role they told us they didnt need the SR-71.

The U2 and Global hawk are great platforms but countries with heavy air defense Russia, China they are expensive missile fodder.

Originally posted by ShadowXIX
The U2 and Global hawk are great platforms but countries with heavy air defense Russia, China they are expensive missile fodder.

And isn't it ironic that the enlarged picture shown on the show (I’ve seen the show) had the contrail heading toward Russian/Chinese airspace?

[edit on 29-6-2006 by WestPoint23]

Does anyone know where to find this pic of the contrail over the US headed towards Russian/Chinese airspace?

Unfortunately no, the enlarged higher quality picture shown on the show by the host is much better in that it shows more, it show the contrail heading toward Europe. The only picture online is the small one in the thread linked above.

Phew!!
I've checked everywhere and I can't seem to locate an hi res image.
The only thing left is to see if Discovery have a TV schedule and
see if I can image-grab the picture that way.

I'm surprised it hasn't showed up on the internet though.

It was a little weird how the contrail was laid along State lines, of course,
the real question is where was it going.