'Ninja throwing star' plane that can turn 90 degrees and fly SIDEWAYS while breaking the sound bar

I ran across something interesting. The development of a craft that is supposed to reach mach 8 speeds has started. It is also supposed to be able to lift off and land by itself due to 2 different flight modes, and the aerodynamics of the shuriken / ninja star shape eliminates the sonic boom. The research is pioneered by Dr. Gecheng Zha, a teacher at the University of Miami, and gets funding from NASA. It is claimed that the craft is still a couple or three decades from a reality.

NASA approved a $100,000 investment that pushes the envelope- not to mention sound barriers- when it comes to plane design. The space organization approved the hefty fund to allow for further development of a new type of aircraft called the supersonic plane concept. The plane is created in a way that will allow it to take off from the ground, and then turn on its side once it reaches supersonic atmospheric levels so that it can continue its flight into the uppermost parts of space
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normal commercial airplanes have such significant wings, because they need to use that wingspan to gain enough momentum to get off of the ground.

By contrast, while the large wingspan is needed to take off, it creates too much drag for the plan when it reaches supersonic speeds.

As a result, once it reaches the supersonic atmosphere, the plane will then rotate 90 degrees so that it is longer and thinner than when it took off.

The technology has been pioneered by Dr. Gecheng Zha who is a teacher at the University of Miami.

Sourc e

One problem facing supersonic aircraft is that the properties that make them fly efficiently at speeds greater than Mach 1 (the speed of sound, 761 mph) hurt their performance in subsonic flight. To overcome the issue, Ge-Cheng Zha, an aerospace engineer at the University of Miami, has developed a concept plane that would rotate in mid-air to take advantage of the best aerodynamics. It will also eliminate the sonic boom that plagued the Concorde and led to widespread bans of supersonic flight over land. Read more: www.businessinsider.com...

Source

It is demonstrated that this concept has the ability to overcome the inherent conflict between subsonic and hypersonic performance found in conventional supersonic and hypersonic systems. The bidirectional wing concept provides a configuration with low sweep and a high aspect ratio for subsonic flight and a configuration with high sweep and low aspect ratio favorable for hypersonic flight. The ability to fly efficiently at subsonic speeds means the aircraft can take-off and land using conventional runways unlike current hypersonic vehicles which must be taken to the appropriate altitude and speed by a large transport. It is shown that the design has high aerodynamic efficiency at subsonic, supersonic, and hypersonic speeds. This concept would revolutionize both commercial civil transport and military systems. A civil transport that could cruise at Mach 8 would be able to travel between Miami and Shanghai in about four hours. Global travel between any two points in the world would be reduced to a matter of hours which would have many positive economic effects. Military vehicles that could travel at subsonic and hypersonic speeds efficiently would lead to drones and bombers that could take-off from aircraft carriers and reach their targets thousands of miles away in a matter of minutes not hours.

Source: USPTO Patent #61172929

NASA funding

I'm not a scientist nor very well versed in aircraft's, but to me it sounds like a mainstream 'UFO' is being developed right in front of our eyes. If this finally is public knowledge one has to question how advanced the classified black project crafts are, how much has the TR-3 models been improved if they are real (probably discarded for newer models), and is there truth to there existing stellar full-antigravity models capable of reaching mars in a day? Sorry for the rant . Anyways most of all the real UFO sightings are definitely of terrestrial design IMO, the frequency of their appearance also support this.

Thats a lot of details regarding abilities considering it's thirty years away.....so in other words it's probably up there being tested already, and is responsible for some of the UFO sightings we see.

CX.

This is probably tech from the 70's.

I just want my flying car already

Originally posted by CX
Thats a lot of details regarding abilities considering it's thirty years away.....so in other words it's probably up there being tested already, and is responsible for some of the UFO sightings we see.

CX.

Yes, but I disagree that this specific model already would be operational. Traditionally I think the researcher would have been paid off and it would have been classified under "National Security". The fact that this gets attention and funding instead of being classified means the government is not threatened by it and is in possession of much more hi-tech technology. The long time period is there to fool us that developments are surely but slowly being made so they can rip us and the earth off with expensive and inefficient petroleum based means of transportation as long as possible. And of course if breakthrough in aviation technology is dependent on a single researcher with a budget of 100 000$, then of course it will take 30 years before it is available

Originally posted by Fisherr
This is probably tech from the 70's.

I just want my flying car already

You might be right since the TR-3 is supposed to have been built with 80's tech. None the less it is a breakthrough in the eyes of the public.

reply to post by anno141


The article really doesn't get into details as to how Sonic Boom is avoided, nor does it really say anything about how getting to Mach 8 is going to happen.

SR-71 Blackbird was designed for speed and it topped out at Mach 3.3.

This whole sideways flying thing sounds way too gimmicky.

Further, if this concept will go Mach 8, then, what's the point in having sub-sonic perks when the majority of it's flight time and entire purpose is to live well above supersonic speeds?

There's also materials science concerns regarding atmospheric flight Aerodynamic Heating at supersonic and hypersonic speeds which is always a big concern and limiting factor.

The hypersonic region of flight is generally accepted to begin at Mach 5 because that is when aerodynamic heating becomes important in aircraft design, with the temperature in the boundary layer and on the surface of an object that is traveling at Mach 5 reaching 1,800° F (1,000° C).

Source

Real Time Aerodynamic Heating and Temperature Calculations for Hypersonic Flight:
NASA Technical Memorandum 4222

Just say'n.
Since article claims this project is a NASA thing, I'm supposing they're working out that whole thermodynamics of Aerodynamic Heating in hypersonic flight thing.

My god I love planes.... And this one is awesome! Just incredible...what I wouldn't give for a ride in this little baby... But thirty years?! Really?! That's ridiculous...

I have to say, it amazes me that in the year 2012 there are no supersonic civilian flights available... It's absolutely nuts... Yeah there are problems with it but nothing that can't be sorted out when you consider how much people will be willing to pay for the convenience and even just for the experience itself... The Lockheed Martin/Gulfstream/Boeing supersonic project looked promising but haven't seen any updated news of developments for a few months now...

Anyway nice one, thanks OP

For some reason I feel like it won't be available to the public. In 30 years I will be 60... and the world will be into way more advanced projects than this, lets say some sort of magnetic propulsion... Its an interesting article none the less. Even more interesting they are working with NASA for development. and a $100,000 grand budget??!! Why that is just a candy bar LOL! What will that develop, the balsa wood wind tunnel model. In fact now that i think of it, the winner of Master Chef got $250,000 prize to start a business. Shouldn't there be an extra 0 and , in the budget for THAT plane?? Something just doesn't seem right about it. Almost seems dangerous or something, and being modeled after a ninja star and talked about like a commercial air liner... You would think that the designer would have been put on a special panel of developers with an idea like that. I too feel like this is just let out to smoke screen the REAL tech that has been harbored by certain entity's. Like here is your Ford with a turbine strapped to its butt while we drive silent custom designed vehicles listening to classical music. Want one its only a quadzillion dollars.. Like the previous posts says. WE WANT OUR FLYING CARS!! Preferably without screaming turbines...
('')

reply to post by Druscilla


There is included in the patent figures of the sonic boom and heating effects on the design, but admittedly I don't understand much of it. Perhaps you have better luck: Patent


There is also more or less answers to your other questions there too:

The subsonic configuration enables the aircraft to use conventional runways for take-off and landing.

And about the engine:

Although this paper presents a solution to the inherent conflict between subsonic and hypersonic flight present in conventional hypersonic systems, it does not address the means in which subsonic and hypersonic flight is achieved. The hypersonic concept presented in this paper presents an wing that would fly efficiency at subsonic and hypersonic speeds, however currently there are no engines that can function at both subsonic and hypersonic speeds. In this section, some of the current conceptual engines being proposed for subsonic and hypersonic flight will be presented, along with the advantages and disadvantages they provide for a civil transport.

As, was previously stated, Reaction Engines Limited is working on a hypersonic civil transport that would employ the Scimitar which is in development and is shown in Fig. 33. This engine has a turbojet mode for subsonic flight and low supersonic flight, and then a ramjet for high supersonic speeds. The maximum speed this engine can function in is about Mach 5. Our hypersonic concept would cruise at Mach 8 and therefore this engine would not be adequate, however a similar concept would be needed. An engine like the scimitar would need to be expanded upon in order to include a configuration that allows it to function as a SCRAMJET engine capable of functioning at speeds of Mach 8. SCRAMJET engines are advantageous as they provide a means to achieve high velocities without the need for an onboard oxidizer.

The proposed Skylon space plane by Reaction Engines Limited would use the SABRE engine which is shown in Fig. 34. The Skylon space plane is designed to reach orbit and therefore it needs a rocket engine mode since there is no atmosphere for an air-breathing engine to work. Our hypersonic concept was intended to cruise at an altitude of 90,000 ft, and our simulations took the corresponding atmospheric conditions into account. However, the use of an engine with both ramjet and rocket modes would have some advantages despite the weight penalty caused by the need to carry liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen on board. As was seen in the surface temperature analysis, the 7 surface temperatures experienced when flying at Mach 8 at an altitude of 90,000 feet would be very high. Using rocket engines would give two potential advantages, the liquid hydrogen and oxygen could be diverted throughout the aircraft near the outer surface and function as a heat exchanger, thus provided the foundation for a cooling system that would lower the surface temperatures. Also, using a rocket engine would mean that the aircraft could operate at much higher altitudes, if the aircraft were to function as a suborbital aircraft it could reach heights where the free stream temperature is much lower and thus the aircraft surface temperatures would also be significantly lower. It must be acknowledged that designing an aircraft designed to function at suborbital heights would provide additional challenges that would not be present when flying at 90,000 ft.

The freaking Russians developed a rocket plane with ramjets on the wing tips.......
I believe it flew sometime around 1943......!Also they built a plywood rocket powered interceptor that flew very well too a bit of an improvement on the mosquito hey?

Originally posted by stirling
The freaking Russians developed a rocket plane with ramjets on the wing tips.......
I believe it flew sometime around 1943......!Also they built a plywood rocket powered interceptor that flew very well too a bit of an improvement on the mosquito hey?

What is your point exactly? The theory behind ramjets was discovered in 1913 I think. We still can not create an airplane that won't fall apart at very high speeds.