Posted on 09/14/2019 5:34:56 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
the predecessor to the U.S. Air Force's iconic SR-71 Blackbird ... also incorporated then-state-of-the-art features to reduce its radar cross-section. These included a combination of a stealthy overall shape and radar-evading structures, as well as the use of composites in its construction, and the incorporation of radar absorbing materials on its skin. A far less known, but still a key component of the Skunk Works plan to make the A-12 harder to spot on radar involved a cesium-laced fuel additive to dramatically reduce the radar signature of the plane's massive engine exhausts and afterburner plumes by creating an ionizing cloud behind the aircraft to help conceal its entire rear aspect from radar waves.
With the exception of the inlet spikes, these added features made heavy use of composite, radar-absorbing materials. Lockheed also developed a special "iron paint," sometimes referred to as the "iron ball paint" because the mixture contained tiny iron balls, to help absorb radar waves. The special blend, which was also applied to the SR-71, reportedly cost $400 per quart in the 1960s.
The basic principle behind this is a concept known as “plasma stealth.” In the simplest terms, this involves creating a cloud of plasma, or ionized gas, around some or all of an object. The plasma then absorbs electromagnetic radiation, such as radar waves, preventing them from reflecting back. There are multiple ways to generate the required plasma Lovick’s idea was to inject an alkali metal, via a fuel additive, into the extremely hot exhaust streams, where the heat would turn it into an ionized gas.
If nothing else, though, the development of the A-50 additive is another intriguing and very obscure part of the story of the A-12, as well as its successor, the SR-71, much of which still remains unknown to this day, ...
(Excerpt) Read more at thedrive.com ...
“Either that, or sending up some poor soul for extremely long-duration missions in space.”
We have the technology now and the robots available to take on these years long developmental missions. We should use the robots to man the airships to accomplish travel to Mars and wherever. Then, if its determined worthwhile, send AOC.
A vice president at Northrup once told me that the plane (SR71) literally leaked fuel until up to speed and the frame and / or skin expanded.
See X-37B
True - the plane took off with only a limited supply of fuel and needed to be refueled once airborn
Yep - and with Cesium, the on-board clocks would always be right....
True, but it is unlikely in the extreme that elemental cesium was used. Cesium COMPOUNDS are not (or not nearly) as reactive. An inorganic possibility is cesium carbonate, but I think more likely that some organometallic complex was used to enhance solubility in the organic fuel matrix.
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and with Cesium, the on-board clocks would always be right....
Not exactly, kind of sort of.
The time dilation thing, kind of creeps up on you.
Cesium Beam atomic clock units used in the Hafele–Keating experiment.
And the whole project was checked by a stewardess with her Timex. See photo at link.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hafele%E2%80%93Keating_experiment
There is a book about this and more called “Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed” by by Ben R. Rich and Leo Janos
Fascinating read!
Epilogue from the book.
Ben R. Rich died from cancer on January 5, 1995. Ben died as he had lived — with courage, good
humor, and resolve. At his request, his ashes were scattered from an airplane near his beachfront
house on the California coast in Oxnard. At the moment his ashes were released, a Stealth fighter
appeared out of the clouds and dipped its wings in a final salute to its creator.
The X-37B has a predictable path. A manned aircraft can be launched and fly a multiple vector path with no warning.
You assume it has a reconnaissance role, even in part, when there is no evidence to that effect. It's too cheap by a factor of 10 to compete with the KH-11s and to cheap by a further factor of 10 to compare to 'Misty.'
Not to mention the X-37 is only the size of a small truck (which puts a severe limit on space available for surveillance gear) and KH-11 is the size of a bus (Misty we don’t know about).
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