what would you see if an airplane was completly coated with MIRROR cells ?

think !
you would only see reflexions of what is around the aircraft instead of seeing the actual aircraft.
any sky,light or dark,will do !

if unmanned no extra problems...if pilot(s) onboard cockpitglass would be only one way through looking from inside the cockpit.

but anyway you could not actually see,photograph or film the aircraft and given also the stealth technology involved in the shape i would say:
this is the ultimate stuff in stealth aviation.

You would see a reflection of what ever is at the appropriate angle,

As for low observability if looking from below you would see a very fractured reflection of the ground in the sky.

If looking from above vice versa

the mirror view would be fractured as many times as a mirrorcell is present in the entire coating !

it is not a mirrorview of a perfectly flat mirror !!

Realise that is why I said you would get a very fractured view of the ground.

So you would have a mulitfaceted green-brown object in a blue/grey sky

This concept would most likely work at high altitude where there would hopefully be more uniformity of visual surrounding

[Edited on 21-5-2004 by Popeye]

I'm also thinking I wouldn't want to be piloting a plane near one of these, what with the sun's reflection.

The faceting would diffuse the suns reflection, but what bout using adaptive optics mirror cells (coupled with a super computer) that could move to focus a given reflection to a point. Maybe you could then focus the suns rays on the enemy (bit like using a magnifying glass - with the plane being the magnifying glass)

the facets could be in the shape of HOLLOW and as you know from tests at school...
if you catch sunrays in an hollow mirror and point them to an objcts that is fit to burn...it bloody burns !!
(the HEAT is on ! nice phrase for the blue suiters !)
hollow shaped mirrors were used also by the greeks i think to put the sails on fire of ships entering the unfriendly way their harbours

my idea here is only intended for aircraft used the strategic way in air wars and not the "jolly farmer flying the beech bonanza full of moonshine to a party"

Optical stealth is a very real technology currently in R&D with several defense companies - however facetted mirrors as described above are not part of the equation.
There are several threads covering this subject here on ATS ..
Here's one of them...
Military Cloaking/Invisable Camo

oops...now i come to think of it...if such a VTOL aircraft came in landing on a sunny day and hovered a bit
before touching down..it could actually set fire on the dry grass if this was an excercise hold in the "open nature" .(raw terrain prepaired before landing as harrier
aircraft use in some excercises !!)

lol NOGODSINTHEUNIVERSE that would be an erroneous concept to use facetted mirrors. Maybe you should look up Susumu Tachi, a engineering professor at the University of Tokyo on cloaking.. I also know NASA's JPL has published a design for an invisible vehicle...And I am sure the US Defense Department has other use for it as well...

the hollow mirror could be made optical as kind a extreme fisheye !
as you know the fisheyeeffect on a picture shows almost kinda plenty degrees of the angle (usual 7mm but it is possible to lower even that figure*standard lens is 55mm*)

but now i come to think of it...everybody that looks at the flying aircraft with mirrormodification would be also able to see reflected sunlight in kinda round / circle shaped "glow" !! (catch my drift ?)

umm can i ask a simple ques IF the craft was painted in mirror cell thingys wouldnt it light up like a chritmas tree when moonlight or sun light hits it

it is not a painted craft !
every mirrorcell is fixed separately !

if fisheye focal length of the hollow mirror is used then the reflexion of what is around the craft would look exactly like if looking to a metal ballbearing for example.

in flight the craft would be a 360� enviremental reflexionimage,including sun or moonlight.

this is a non-issue.
The hurdle has already been jumped and R&D is already underway to incorporate optical stealth into various battle systems.
Please refer back to the link I provided above (Military Cloaking/Invisable Camo) or do a google search on the information XPhiles provided:
Next-gen optical camouflage is busting out of defense labs and into the street

Remember Natty Holder from the rock band Slade? What, that was a couple of decades before your time? Well he had this top hat that he wore and it had little circular mirrors all over it. Anyway he would bob and weave while he was singing so the stage lights reflecting off of it made him look like a human disco ball. I imagine hundreds of kids at his shows having epileptic fits induced by the lighting effects.

[Edited on 5-22-2004 by groingrinder]

QUOTE:
Please refer back to the link

links are not working,pix removed and...it is all on photoshop effects or a uniform but nothing whatsoever on AIRPLANES !!!
so everybody clicking to your links find outdated and non working pages ?
what's the point of guiding people to non working obsolete stuff ???

Originally posted by NOGODSINTHEUNIVERSE
QUOTE:
Please refer back to the link

links are not working,pix removed and...it is all on photoshop effects or a uniform but nothing whatsoever on AIRPLANES !!!
so everybody clicking to your links find outdated and non working pages ?
what's the point of guiding people to non working obsolete stuff ???

the point is that it is the optical stealth technology on the linked pages that is being developed for aircraft - not faceted mirrors.

The main problem with camouflage has always been the fact that the human eye and brain has a remarkable affinity for spotting movement. However, this is not as big a problem as it sounds when you're dealing with aircraft.

1. Any aircraft hunting visually for an Optical Stealth aircraft will have to pick out a very small apparent object against the sky or ground, and this will be virtually impossible at night. Just try looking for a light aircraft flying overhead during the day. It practically disappears into the sky, even if you can tell where the noise is coming from. Choppers are easier because they're bloody noisy and tend to fly low and slow, hence they don't outrun their engine noise.

2. Any ground observer would be looking for an aircraft more or less head on, and in this case it would be not moving much apparent to his/her current frame of reference, until it was practically on top of him/her.

Originally posted by NOGODSINTHEUNIVERSE
it is not a painted craft !
every mirrorcell is fixed separately !

if fisheye focal length of the hollow mirror is used then the reflexion of what is around the craft would look exactly like if looking to a metal ballbearing for example.

in flight the craft would be a 360� enviremental reflexionimage,including sun or moonlight.

I'll tell you what you'd get, mate. Something with the aerodynamic properties of a thrown brick.

Originally posted by NOGODSINTHEUNIVERSE
QUOTE:
Please refer back to the link

links are not working,pix removed and...it is all on photoshop effects or a uniform but nothing whatsoever on AIRPLANES !!!
so everybody clicking to your links find outdated and non working pages ?
what's the point of guiding people to non working obsolete stuff ???

The links work and so do the pictures. The technology is real. The technology has in fact been around for quite a long time.

The thread is a very informative and interesting one which was given you. Can you not see this?

>EDIT<

NOGODS, I have in fact considered a similar idea to yours a while ago, but came to the same conclusion that Popeye and the others are talking about. While the use of mirrors is a very effective way to acheive invisibility in certain situations (look at a magician's box of tricks), in a outdoor military setting it is simply not practical. The best method appears to be a refractive type of material that bends light around an object, or better still, a light-bending energy field.

[Edited on 22-5-2004 by Lampyridae]

unless you where in a plane next to it but radar would just bounce off..humm *steals the idea*