Originally posted by Scramjet76

If you look at what he wrote it is a bit confusing. First of all, he misspelled Aurora. Next, he is the one claiming facts. Next, he says Aurora was listed right after SR-71 Blackbird. That doesn't weaken the case for a "top secret craft," it strengthens it. Next, the section apparently reads "Air Breathing Reconnaissance Platform." These are his words and not mine. Air Breathing means it doesn't need an oxidizer (like space vehicles) and therefore moves in our atmosphere. Everyone knows what Reconn is. That is what the SR-71 was made for. And Platform could mean anything. Again, this does not weaken the possibility of a top secret craft.

Again no one knows. Hypersonic is one possibility to improve upon the SR-71. Maybe the successor isn't any faster but creates much less of a sonic boom. Maybe the successor isn't faster than the SR-71 but can attain such speeds at lower altitudes because of new technology aimed at maximizing the airflow around the vehicle. Maybe the Aurora is an experimental ice cream truck!

Hold on! I never said Aurora wasn't Top Secret, and I never siad it wasn't an aircraft. I only asked how Aurora became hypersonic. It could easily be subsonic, and extreemly stealthy.

Once Again, you are assuming meaning that aren't there!

Tim

P.S. Sorry about the typo, anyone can goof up!

maybe the plane exists or it might have been mistaken for a b-2.its really silent.and the part of the seconds might need to be proven how many seconds. im someone who usually doesnt belive in the part "hupersonic" get this.that picture this time doesnt mean anything.so i need the picture of this thing flying.sorry if i offended you intelgurl.

Originally posted by phsyco
.sorry if i offended you intelgurl.

No offense taken.
I would not have even posted it had it not been in the latest Aviation Week.
They are generally reliable (with the exception of that Blackstar article a couple of months back) and it's strange that they would have any reference to this at all.

I guess they put it in because it apparently came from a knowledgable and reliable witness. Its quite an impressive pic but I agree with the above poster that what we all want is a photo of an actual craft in flight.

Im always v dubious about all these pics of contrails since ive seen a few formed by normal planes that have been whipped up by high altitude winds into wierd shapes even, and they were made by the 13:35 to New York or whatever not a secret PDE plane!

Also there was a post on here a bit back, by ignorant monkey I think, that made that point that if a PDE was operating at a predicted 5000 or 10000 pulses a second, even at very supersonic speed the contrail pulses would be indistinguishable and just form one long trail not one like in the pic.

Originally posted by gfad
Im always v dubious about all these pics of contrails since ive seen a few formed by normal planes that have been whipped up by high altitude winds into wierd shapes even, and they were made by the 13:35 to New York or whatever not a secret PDE plane!

Well, it actually does not have to be some exotic hypersonic spy craft with PDE, it could be an experimental PDE and be much slower, there is in fact a Rutan Long-EZ with pulse detonation that may be flying near these witnesses in AW&ST.

so this spy plane is hypersonic.some times I wonder how hupersonic crafts can be bulit. made sure the aerodynamics of the plane seems to be pretty much okay.And i saw that craft in a vedio game I played a long time ago.ace combat 3.its kind of unbeliveable.info might have been leaked but then again i would also like the technical data of this plane.we might know something about the engine.atleast.Dont you all think so.crew piolet(if they carry any or if remote controlled)wing span etc.

Originally posted by phsyco
so this spy plane is hypersonic.some times I wonder how hupersonic crafts can be bulit. made sure the aerodynamics of the plane seems to be pretty much okay.And i saw that craft in a vedio game I played a long time ago.ace combat 3.its kind of unbeliveable.info might have been leaked but then again i would also like the technical data of this plane.we might know something about the engine.atleast.Dont you all think so.crew piolet(if they carry any or if remote controlled)wing span etc.

We dont know anything about Aurora, in fact its existance is pretty sketchy at most so I dont think anyone knows its wingspan etc. I dont really even think it exists personally and I dont know how you have got the info that its hypersonic.

This time I wuold say try the first page gfad.by the way i dont belive in hypersonic either.practically who would.
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Mod Edit - Removed 'All Caps'

[edit on 7-9-2006 by masqua]

Is it me or does that image of Aurora look remarkably like HOTOL?

So UK has a design for a hypersonic aircraft (apparently feasible) which is cancelled due to cost, and at about the same time the US seems to develop a hypersonic aircraft.

HOTOL was developed by BAe which is now a major US defence contractor

Mere coincidence? Old news?

Originally posted by phsyco
This time I wuold say try the first page gfad.by the way i dont belive in hypersonic either.practically who would.

To be quite honest the original article is written as thought its content is fact. It is anything but. It is basically a collection of anecdotal stories with varying degrees of trust-worthy-ness.

I think this plane does exist, Only reason why its been hidden for so long because it would be to valuble to leek. Think about it > a HYPER SONIC BOMBER thats has enough alltitude to attack from the atmossphere.

Originally posted by ghost
I only asked how Aurora became hypersonic. It could easily be subsonic, and extreemly stealthy.

people connected the dots.
Between the U-2 & the Blackbird, 3 main things happened in the recon area:Faster, Higher, Stealthier. Theres no reason to think that the trend didn't continue.
I think Aurora had something the others didn't, and thats first strike capability.
PDE's weren't very far along then...but ramjets were. Its likely a mach 5-6 recon aircraft, with a small payload (just incase they see something that needs to be delt with immediatly).

just my 2 cents

[edit on 9-9-2006 by Murcielago]

What if it's not hypersonic at all - just a step beyond the SR-71, ie: high supersonic?
More advanced propulsion, just not ultra advanced propulsion.
Mach 4-5 is not impossible for a ramjet, in fact dual-mode scramjets operate as ramjets up to around mach 5.
Just a thought.

Many people seem to believe that Aurora is a stealthy hypersonic plane, but both of these adjectives produce an incredible hurdle.

Everyone knows how difficult it is to reach hypersonic speeds for a sustainable amount of time, but at these speeds the skin of the aircraft would be reaching up to 1500 oC and higher.

This creates a secondary problem of how to hide the infra-red signature of the plane and keep it stealthy. This was a problem that the Lockheed engineers didnt ever overcome on the Blackbird and that "only" reached Mach 3.3.

If Aurora did exist I would really like to know how this was done, and until someone proves Aurora exists this is going to be a serious point of contention for me.

I'm sure the heat was one of the biggest hurdles of the program. But there not going to want to reveal an aircraft that could do mach 6 without breakin a sweat.
I'm sure they would want to leave that hurdle in place for the rest of the world to also solve.

At those mach 5-6 speeds the aircrafts edges could get to around 1500 F, but theres metals out there that have a melting point 4X higher then that, and then theres composites...

[edit on 10-9-2006 by Murcielago]