SR71 Blackbird
Project: ET2 Architecture?

The Blackbird series planes: A12, YF12A and the SR-71 were developed as reconnaissance planes, taking images from an altitude of 85,000+ feet. The birds were first developed in the late 1950's, and decommissioned in 1990. They were brought back from 1995-1999 for additional usage.






STRUCTURE & SKIN:
The skin created a volume for fuel. It would contract at high speed and altitude, and would actually leak fuel until in flight. It would then have to be refueled in the air, giving the plane a range of 2,000 miles unrefueled. Fuel weight accounted for 57% of vehicle weight.

Gross vehicle weight: 140,000 lbs
Fuel weight: 80,000 lbs

Skin Diagrams



Skin Analysis



Operable Skin




The frame was made of Titanium and Titanium alloys.



Construction


COCKPIT:
The reconnaissance aircraft was meant for one pilot; trainer planes were two-seaters





ENGINES:
SR-71s are powered by two Pratt and Whitney J-58 axial-flow turbojets with afterburners, each producing 32,500 pounds of thrust. Studies have shown that less than 20 percent of the total thrust used to fly at Mach 3 is produced by the basic engine itself. The balance of the total thrust is produced by the unique design of the engine inlet and "moveable spike" system at the front of the engine nacelles and by the ejector nozzles at the exhaust which burn air compressed in the engine bypass system.




'Shock Diamonds' were created by overexpansion & underexpansion conditions:

Overexpansion

Underexpansion


The SR71 would fly at speeds of Mach 3.2, or 2200 mph. It set air speed records from New York-London as well as London-Los Angeles. The plane would sustain Mach 3 speed for an hour, resulting in heat soak temperatures of 600 degrees (F).

New York to London Speed Run Data is:
Time Flown: 1hour, 54min, 56.4sec
Distance Flown: 3,461.528 statute miles
Speed Flown: 1,806.957368 statute mi/hr.

London to Los Angeles Speed Run Data is:
Time Flown: 3hour, 47min, 39sec
Distance Flown: 5,446.87 statute miles
Speed Flown: 1,435.59 statute mi/hr.

Thu, Dec 6, 2007  Permanent link
Categories: Aircraft, Speed, Altitude
Sent to project: ET2 Architecture?

Robert Bigelow
Project: ET2 Architecture?

Robert Bigelow owns Budget Suites of America, and is the founder of Bigelow Aerospace. Bigelow Aerospace has launched two space modules: the

Genesis I


& Genesis II


They also have plans for fully-manned space environments, including hotels, factories and research labs. He also founded the National Institute for Discovery Science which researches paranormal experiences, including UFO's (siting's, alleged evidence, etc)

Fri, Nov 30, 2007  Permanent link

Sent to project: ET2 Architecture?

Sir Richard Branson
Project: ET2 Architecture?

Sir Richard Branson owns the Virgin Empire, with annual revenue of $25 Billion / year with 55,000 employees. He states his drive as a "love [for] learning," and he is "incredibly inquisitive." During this TED conference talk, he says be believes that "If you can run one company, you can run any company." (This was also posted early on if you did not see it)

Branson left school at 15 years old. Dislexia was only one of his challenges in school.



He also has an explorer spirit, having tried Ballooning and Boating. He has been pulled from the sea 6 times by helicopter. He attempted crossing the Atlantic in a balloon as well as receiving the Blue Riband award for crossing the Atlantic in record time in 1986.

Fri, Nov 30, 2007  Permanent link

Sent to project: ET2 Architecture?

Elbert Leander "Burt" Rutan
Project: ET2 Architecture?

Burt Rutan made his first plane flight in a Aeronca Champ at the age of 16. He was interested in aeronautics at a young age, and received an Aeronautical Engineering degree from Cal Poly in 1965.

He founded his first aircraft design company, Rutan Aircraft Factory, after working with the Navy as a flight test project engineer. Most of the planes he designed were homebuilt. His first plane design was the Rutan VariVeggen.



The image below shows aircraft produced by Rutan Aircraft Factory: including (from left to right) Voyager, Quickie, Amsoil Racer, NGT Fairchild Trainer, VariEZ Prototype, Defiant, LongEZ, VariEZ production, VariViggen, AD1 Swing Wing, Boomerang, Grizzly, Catbird, Solitaire. Bottom: Rutan Residence (magically transplanted to an island), Jet Boat



Scaled Composites is his second aircraft company. The Global Flyer, which was piloted by Steve Fossett is one of their designs. Rutan, during his talk at the TED conference stated that Scaled Composites has "developed more than one type of airplane every year since 1982." Unclassified images are shown below.



Rutan believes that the only way for spaceflight to occur on a commercial level is by private companies. His talk a the TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) conference explains his views (I posted this one very early on)



They won the X Prize in 2004 with the SpaceShipOne design. It was the first privately built aircraft to reach space: an altitude of 328,491 feet (approximately 62 miles or 100 km). It's first flight into space can be seen here.





SC is now developing a second spaceship, called SpaceShipTwo

Fri, Nov 30, 2007  Permanent link

Sent to project: ET2 Architecture?

Steve Fossett
Project: ET2 Architecture?

Steve Fosset was one of the great adventurers of our time. He has made 116 records in 5 areas, 60 of which still stand.

He was a Boy Scout and Eagle Scout as a teenager, excelling at tasks which "required persistence and endurance," and "is at the very edge of [his] ability and endurance." He was able to fund his adventures by using money which he earned as a stockbroker in Chicago.

The records he achieved required many repeat attempts.

The sports in which he has records include:

Sailing in his boat the Cheyenne


Ballooning, with records for speed and around the world non-stop flights. It took him 6 attempts to achieve the non-stop around the world flight.


Gliding, with numerous records. Many of which were in the Virgin Atlantic Global Flier by Burt Ratan's company Scaled Composites.


He also recently purchased Craig Breedlove's 'Spirit of America' land speed record (LSR) vehicle to attempt a new land speed record. The project was called 'Target 800 mph.' Fossett and his crew made extensive remodels of the vehicle to withstand 800 mph. It's previously held top speed was over 700 mph.

Fri, Nov 30, 2007  Permanent link

Sent to project: ET2 Architecture?

"Fossett's wife asks court to declare aviator dead"
Project: ET2 Architecture?

Tuesday, November 27th, Steve Fossett's wife began the process of declaring her husband deceased.

Fosset went missing after taking off from a private airstrip in Nevada on Setember 3rd, 2007. The Civil Air Patrol (CAP) called off searches on October 2nd, but private searches have continued. No remains have been found.


Richard Branson describes Fossett's drive to push himself to the limits.

The flight's purpose was to scout a location for attempting to break the land speed record.

Thu, Nov 29, 2007  Permanent link

Sent to project: ET2 Architecture?

NASA image & video gallery
Project: ET2 Architecture?

For the Aircraft research group, the Dryden Flight Research Center website could come in handy. Along with hi-res images, they also have videos of craft and sometimes vector drawings as well.

NASA Image eXchange has a good search engine for additional images.

Fri, Nov 2, 2007  Permanent link

Sent to project: ET2 Architecture?

TED Conference Videos
Project: ET2 Architecture?

For starters, check out two videos from the Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) conference; one each from Burt Rutan:



and Richard Branson:



Both of these are available for download on the TED site.


Below are some videos of SpaceShipOne as well



The Digest Series below is not in english, but it has good footage. If we can find them in english, it would be really great.


Digest Version (1/4)

Digest Version (2/4) has footage of a test flight which went off runway

Digest Version (3/4)

Digest Version (4/4)

Fri, Nov 2, 2007  Permanent link
Categories: SpaceShipOne, Space Tourism, Lynn, Burt Rutan, Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson
Sent to project: ET2 Architecture?