GIGANTIC Aviation Week story, Pentagon has been flying 2-stage orbital spaceplane throughout 1990s |
GIGANTIC Aviation Week story, Pentagon has been flying 2-stage orbital spaceplane throughout 1990s |
Guest_BruceMoomaw_* |
Mar 6 2006, 02:24 AM
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Guests |
It may even have been manned:
http://www.aviationnow.com/avnow/news/chan...ws/030606p1.xml My God, what a story -- if it's even partially true. And, judging from this article, they are absolutely certain they have proof (along with proof that the thing, although it works, has recently been mothballed as not cost-effective). It's important to keep in mind, though, that this thing is NOT a workable prototype of the originally planned 2-stage winged Space Shuttle. The second stage -- the spaceplane that actually achieved orbit -- was relatively small and probably very inefficient as a cargo carrier; its advantage lay in allowing the US to get a military reconaissance (or weapons) satellite into orbit surreptitiously, with no advance warning of the launch going to other countries. Even at that, as I say, AW reports that the thing has been recently canned as not worth its (doubtless huge) black-budget expense. |
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Mar 8 2006, 07:24 AM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 688 Joined: 20-April 05 From: Sweden Member No.: 273 |
Also remember that there is a school of thought that contends that "black" programs are actually more efficient since the security restrictions mean that the number of people involved is minimized and the bureaucratic superstructure largely eliminated.
Having 30 years of experience in the aerospace business I must say it sounds plausible. Whew! Just imagine getting rid of most of those meetings, reviews and milestones.... tty |
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Mar 8 2006, 09:58 AM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 562 Joined: 29-March 05 Member No.: 221 |
Lots of info about the XB-70 What an aircraft!
Worth repeating: GregM No one would ever believe those numbers if there weren’t an actual vehicle attached to them. Not even today. For an aircraft of several generations ago it is astonishing. |
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Mar 8 2006, 11:09 AM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2488 Joined: 17-April 05 From: Glasgow, Scotland, UK Member No.: 239 |
Jim Oberg on MSNBC.Com Space News summed up the Boron fuel issue as follows:
'Another skeptical expert referred to the boron-based "fuel breakthrough." "Boron-based fuels were the white hope of the 1950s because they have about 140 percent the energy/weight ratio of kerosene," the expert advised MSNBC.com by e-mail. "The B-70 and F-108 were designed to use them, and production plants were built. But when they actually tested the stuff, it turned out to produce combustion products that were liquid and destroyed the engines. Also, borane compounds are so poisonous they have been considered as CW [chemical weapon] agents! The whole program collapsed, and B-70 went back to kerosene."' Oh, and the recon drones used on the SR-71 (I know, I know, but let's just call it that, OK? It's easier than skipping around between names!) were, I thought, dumped after some nasty accidents at high speed. I have a book somewhere (I think by Jay Miller) showing them lying out to dry in the USAF boneyard just down the road from Scaled Composites, so there were certainly some left! Bob Shaw -------------------- Remember: Time Flies like the wind - but Fruit Flies like bananas!
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