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Originally posted by galm 1
Does this US military project really exist? There have been unusual sighting. It was recently reported than on 27 September 1995 David Morris of Walsall, Cornwall UK took a picture of a triangular shaped plane being refueled by a KC-135, and flanked by a pair of F-111s. Tell me what you think about this topic. Do you think that this project exsits?
Originally posted by JackCash
a picture of the contrails of this plane. The so called donuts on a rope that the pulse detonation engine creates.
1. Regarding the donuts on a rope contrails being a myth and there being absolutely no proof... Actually there is proof.
The Germans experimented with pulse jet engines on the V-1 rockets back in WW2 and the US experimented with the Hiller-Lockwood pulse jet, both produced a similar phenomenon in tests and had they been at a high altitude would most certainly have made the contrail pattern known as "donuts on a rope".
2. Actually, your statement on the PDE not being air-breathing is false. Go back to the Popular Science article you got your 80 cycles per second figure (here's the link) and you'll see that the PDE at China Lake is an air breather.
Even if the PDE wasn't an air breather, your statement on how contrails are formed is also incorrect. Contrails are plumes of water vapor formed by the natural combustion of jet fuel at high altitudes. It's very similar to the water vapor "smoke" trails left by car exhausts on a cold winter morning. The hot exhausts of jet engines, like car engines, contains soot from the combustion of fuels, along with water vapor. In cold weather, the air cannot hold as much water as in warm temperatures, so it reaches saturation (100% humidity) very quickly.
At high altitudes, air temperatures are typically well below -40 degrees F, or even colder. At this extremely low temperature, the air can only retain a very tiny amount of water, so any excess water condenses and turns into a cloud (this is how natural clouds form too). Contrails are, in essence, cirrus clouds induced by a jet engine. Cirrus clouds are high altitude clouds made up of ice crystals.
So a PDE, Scram jet or whatever can easily make contrails if the atmospheric conditions are acceptable.
To take this a step further Minuteman 2 missiles leave contrails, as do other SOLID fuel missiles such as Deltas - and there's not enough moisture in those solid fuel babies to cause condensation inside the rocket.
3. As stated above, the PDE at China Lake is the one that cycles at 80 detonations per second and to do so uses a gatlin gun like feature on the combustion tubes, but this in no way means that every PDE that is or has been developed must also have 80 detonations per second. If the Aurora is flying and if it is using PDE's it would be 1980's technology and not 2004 China Lake technology - who's to say how many detonations per second are needed on an aledged Aurora PDE.
(thanks to intelgurl for a little help)
1. Regarding the donuts on a rope contrails being a myth and there being absolutely no proof... Actually there is proof.
The Germans experimented with pulse jet engines on the V-1 rockets back in WW2 and the US experimented with the Hiller-Lockwood pulse jet, both produced a similar phenomenon in tests and had they been at a high altitude would most certainly have made the contrail pattern known as "donuts on a rope".