USAF leadership making some curious statements about Space.

a reply to: beetee

that's pretty cool they are testing on sounding rockets, i wonder if that has anything to do with our(US) air force is developing and fielding new hypersonic weapons.


the idea of bounder layer control is actually not that new as far as aircraft go in fact some pretty cool ideas go all the way back to when the A-12 was still testing by using electron beams to create an electron cloud(aka plasma) in front of its inlets to help flow and reduce the radar return.

Heck they even put strong beta emitters into the coatings of stealth aircraft because the emissions of polonium or other elements with equally strong emissions don't require any power input to work whereas RF emitters or lasers require a large surplus of power to work.

im not sure where the idea of using 1000's of little holes on the skin to blast air thru for the effect seen in air hockey, but they would blow gas thru the holes to help the air pass over the surface without touching it.

Boundary layer control has always interested me because if you can use a system or systems to keep the air off the actual skin of an aircraft it solves allot of the issues with high mach flight. the only problem is if they fail or ground to the skin of your aircraft it's not going to work out well.

but if they have a working system(im pretty sure they do) it would make going to and from space ALLOT more accessible, the only downside i can really imagine is the higher power levels that would be required for an aircraft going hypersonic(to or from LEO) is that it would most likely light up like a neon sign.

we live in interesting times and i cant wait for what the AF and others are working on to come into the light.

on a side note i think that its amazing the powers that be are talking about this stuff because it will excite young kids to get into science and math even more, the US is falling behind of where we were a few decades ago as far as homegrown students going into STEM fields of work. Right now we educate a TON of foreign nationals at our best universities to have them go back home to India, China or where ever. Brain drain is a real thing.

With exotic patents they are just patenting the idea.Problem with the Microwave idea I can see is not to cook the pink squishy pilot in the middle of it.

a reply to: Blackfinger

I think the interesting part is the evidence that the Navy (in this case) is actively looking into these ideas.

The practicality of it might be a way off, but these are some very exotic concepts to patent.

Inertia dampening? Superluminal travel? A hybrid aerospace-submersible craft? Room temperature superconductors?

Pretty exciting...

a reply to: Blackfinger

why does it need someone in the aircraft?