Anyone got any scope on Project Aurora?

[dave_c]

Is this top secret project designed for space travel as a replacement for the shuttle or just a very very very fast plane? And what's the basic technology behind it? And if the US mililitary does officially comission it's production what advantages does it have and since the cold war ended years ago what will be it's uses?

[fo3nix]

I'm sure you are familiar with Google.

It's a spy plane. Taking over the SR-71 Blackbird.

[dave_c]

Like I said before what use is there for a hypersonic jetplane? the cold war's over, China's going all soft, North Korea is heavily already monitered  and I doubt Al Qaeda's got suficticated long range anti-aircraft, and with Satellite technology becoming more advance what use is project Aurora?

 

And yes I'm familiar with Google, I'm sure everyone here's familiar with Google...

[fo3nix]

You are misguided in your thoughts.

North Korea is heavily monitored, but perhaps with the aid of the Aurora? (what makes you think it's only been around for a year or two.. this could be 10 years old). China is definitely not going soft just yet. And while the Cold War is over, America definitely doesn't trust the Soviets completely.

[lucasdigital]

Aurora may be the wrong name - it was the name accidently left in a congressional report on airforce spending, and may have been attributed to the development of the B2 (later known by the project name:Senior Citizen).

The existance of the Aurora has always been hotly denied by the US Airforce - whats curious is that the Airforce standard response to such matters is "neither confirm or deny" - make of that what you will.

The smart money is definitely on the recon aircraft, many analysts were dumbfounded by the retirement of the SR-71 blackbird, which has some important advantages over satellites.

Speculation that Aurora uses a radical new engine concept remain sketchy. A concept called pulse detonation was talked about in U.S. science journals, about the time when Aurora was apparently active - the only evidence though was the pulsing noises heared by civillians near airbases thought to have played host to Aurora.

Given that both the B2 and the F111 were based on 1970 developments, it has been assumed that Aurora represented the next generation. Note though that Aurora came to public attention during the early nineties, so would in theory have been overtaken by more recent aircraft developments - like the F22/JSF.

I believe that Aurora existed, but may have been cancelled or mothballed. While there is a shed load of circumstancial and superficial evidence, much less information has come to light than I would have expected from a program that has come under so much public interest.