Know anything about Satellite Killers?

C'mon, you guys know everything.

We hired a new Engineer and he was impressed with the machining processes at work. I walked him through the shops and then the museum where there is a machine shop set up just as it would have been in 1890. Flat belts, line drive and no OSHA.

I described a project I worked on in 1984 or so, essentially a huge pipe tee made of aluminum with its ends capped off. It was 6 ft. in diameter, 14 ft. long and the tee part was about 4 ft. long. It was called the Aurora Project and was touted as a satellite killer. It was to go up in space with a laser inside to down other sattelites. I never saw it again or heard any more about it once it left my machine.

I've googled all sorts of ideas, nothing I recognize. Any ideas?

Dan

http://articles.latimes.com/keyword/asat/featured/2

http://www.spokesmanbooks.com/Spokesman/PDF/Aldridge.pdf

http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a477965.pdf

914Driver wrote: I described a project I worked on in 1984 or so, essentially a huge pipe tee made of aluminum with its ends capped off. It was 6 ft. in diameter, 14 ft. long and the tee part was about 4 ft. long. [....] It was to go up in space with a laser inside to down other sattelites.

Sounds like you were working on it just before they stopped the program.

http://www.g2mil.com/laser.htm

The U.S. Congress banned anti-satellite weapons testing for ten years in 1985, fearing it may spark an arms race. After this ban expired, the U.S. Army gained approval for testing from President Clinton in order to "develop countermeasures" in case American satellites are targeted. On October 21, 1997 the U.S. military tested an anti-satellite laser called the Mid-Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser (MIACL). This TRW laser (below) has been around since the 1980s, a left over from Reagan's "Star Wars" research programs.

The current Aurora project is an aircraft. Hopefully it will be unveiled soon. Its massive.

The Aurora project was thought to be the codename for a hypersonic spyplane, guess that wasn't it...

GameboyRMH wrote: The Aurora project was thought to be the codename for a hypersonic spyplane, guess that wasn't it...

Iz seen it. Horizon to horizon in 8seconds hundreds off thousands of feet up.

I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.

You gonna frikazee ma brain?

Once they figured out that shooting down a satellite is completely cut and dry for the other nation to go to war over they stopped that stuff pretty quick.

They supposedly are trying other more interesting tactics now like killing/covering parts of the solar array slowly so that they lose all power over time and drop out of sync.

Scramjet like the X51A are too new for the 80's, the X43 did its final flight in 2004, so maybe, but Aurora might have been a skunkworks term to describe many different projects.

N Sperlo wrote:

GameboyRMH wrote: The Aurora project was thought to be the codename for a hypersonic spyplane, guess that wasn't it...

Iz seen it. Horizon to horizon in 8seconds hundreds off thousands of feet up.

It's been seen since the mid to late 90's at least. I saw the vapor trail on a "UFO" TV show. Like, "Lookie at this UFO vapor trail. Obviously from some other planet." It looked like cotton balls on a string, from the rumored pulse jet.

And, back of the envelope calcs on your observation: horizon is about 12 miles at sea level (I will toss out the altitude and just look at horizon). That's 24 miles in 8 seconds, or 3 miles/sec, * 3600 sec/hour = 10800 MPH, divided by 768 MPH/Mach = Mach 14. Probably significantly higher if you factor in the altitude, but I don't have the horizon to horizon distance at that height handy. Still, Mach 14 is pretty fast, and like 2-3x the SR71's unofficial speed.

Dr. Hess wrote: It's been seen since the mid to late 90's at least. I saw the vapor trail on a "UFO" TV show. Like, "Lookie at this UFO vapor trail. Obviously from some other planet." It looked like cotton balls on a string, from the rumored pulse jet.

I think the preferred phrase is "doughnuts on a rope." Google that and you will find plenty of pictures of stuff like this:

I don't think we have anything that fast that isn't rocket power, considering the X51 was only doing Mach 6 when it failed in a test. The NASA X-43A Air-launched hypersonic scramjet test of November 16, 2004 reached 7,546 mph.

JoeyM wrote: I think the preferred phrase is "doughnuts on a rope." Google that and you will find plenty of pictures of stuff like this:

Dunno about the preferred phrase. "Cotton balls on a string" is what the ex-NASA rocket scientist that I used to ride to school with 4 days a week called it.

Dr. Hess wrote:

JoeyM wrote: I think the preferred phrase is "doughnuts on a rope." Google that and you will find plenty of pictures of stuff like this:

Dunno about the preferred phrase. "Cotton balls on a string" is what the ex-NASA rocket scientist that I used to ride to school with 4 days a week called it.

Clearly, "Donuts on a rope" is the more manly of the two phrases. Honestly, what man would be caught uttering the words "cotton balls?" Also, a "rope" is way more manly than a "string." And the manly spelling is "Donut."

cool. I don't know anybody involved, so your experience certainly trumps mine

I know "Satellite Killers" would be a great name for a band.

Last thing I heard about this was, that this was one of the major reasons for the F-15 being still in service. It's ability to go vertical to max ceiling would be an ideal platform for anti satellite missiles.

oldsaw wrote: I know "Satellite Killers" would be a great name for a band.

When I clicked on the thread I was wondering if this was about a band or shooting down something in space.

No idea about lasers to shoot down satellites. As far as I've ever heard that was ideas from the 80's. There is a modified 747 with a big honking laser to shoot down incoming ballistic missiles, but I don't think it can shoot anything in orbit. all knowing wikipedia link

Back in 2008, a modified SM-3 missile shot down a satellite. all knowing government link, but that was nothing to do with lasers. Just a missile crashing into a satellite.

The SDI program included proposals for several orbital direct-energy weapons platforms. Given that SDI was announced in 1983, I would guess what you were working on was part of it. I suspect that the "Aurora" name was an internal name for one of those development projects.

thas all I gots

N Sperlo wrote:

GameboyRMH wrote: The Aurora project was thought to be the codename for a hypersonic spyplane, guess that wasn't it...

Iz seen it. Horizon to horizon in 8seconds hundreds off thousands of feet up.

Mr Sperlo, what did you see? Was it at night? I ask because I may have seen it as well. I would like to hear what you have seen before I describe what I have seen. All I will say for now is that I have seen it at night, several times.

I was under the impression that the name Aurora was intended for a group of projects, and that pop culture has labeled this aircraft with the Aurora name. No idea what it is or what it is capable of, but given history, on any given day there are military aircraft being developed in relative secrecy. Bits and pieces of info always seep out, hard to keep stuff like that a secret when you eventually have to test it in the real world. Situation normal. If the suggested speeds are real or close to accurate, that has to be a hell of a ride. Imagine getting that test pilot assignment. It would be like being a spec miata driver, and believing that was the top level, fastest racing on the planet.....only to be thrust into a modern F1 car.

That test pilot (now dead) who's speech I went to about 1993-ish, X15 pilot, was retired then and living in the desert next to Edwards. When asked by an audience member about the Aurora or whatever it's called, he said that he had no direct knowledge of it, but he heard an aircraft land at Edwards, at night, and that it sounded unlike any other engine he had ever heard. For someone that was a test pilot from just after WWII on through the X15, SR71, etc., to say that gives one something to think about.

Also, does "external combustion" pulse jet mean anything to you guys? That's about all I've been able to piece together.

Pulse detonation wave engine? Yeah I know all about it

Dr. Hess wrote: Also, does "external combustion" pulse jet mean anything to you guys? That's about all I've been able to piece together.

Here's some interesting speculation: http://www.fas.org/irp/mystery/pde.htm

And a bit more fuel for the fire: http://www.fas.org/irp/mystery/aurora.htm