| Article: 3243
Newsgroups: sci.space.news
From: [email protected] (Ron Baalke)
Subject: SR-71 Maiden Science Flight
Sender: [email protected]
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 1993 02:00:00 GMT
Forwarded from:
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. (818) 354-5011
Contact: Mary A. Hardin
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 11, 1993
#1498
The first science flight of a high-speed ex-reconnaissance
aircraft took place March 9 from California's Edwards Air Force
Base, carrying a payload operated by scientists at the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory.
The second scientific test flight of the SR-71 Blackbird,
carrying an ultraviolet camera which studies stars and comets,
will take place on Friday, March 12.
"This is really a case of turning swords into plough
shares," said Dr. Jacklyn R. Green, the JPL SR-71 project
scientist. "We are taking what was once a spy plane and
transforming it into a useful, cost-effective science platform."
During the one and a half hour flight, the SR-71 climbed to
an altitude of 85,000 feet with an upward-looking ultraviolet
camera system mounted in its nose bay. "We are doing astronomy
at mach 3 (2,100 mph) and no one else has ever done that before,"
Green said.
The faster the plane goes the higher it soars and it is the
high altitude that makes the Blackbird such an important
scientific asset. Flying above a significant portion of the
Earth's atmosphere, scientists can observe stars and planets at
ultraviolet wavelengths that are blocked to ground-based
astronomers. Using the high altitude SR-71 as a scientific
platform enables scientists to do ultraviolet astronomy more
cost-effectively and it opens the door to a wide range of other
scientific applications, such as the study of comets, asteroids
and astrophysics.
The maiden flight of the SR-71 as a scientific platform had
two key objectives: to determine how the camera responds under
different lighting conditions such as daylight, twilight and
nighttime and to test the camera's resolution in relation to the
effects of vibration and turbulence.
"We want to determine how faint an object we can observe,"
Green said. "The results of the first flight look good. We were
able to see Mars and the constellation Orion, among other stars.
The ride appeared to be totally smooth and we couldn't detect any
vibration in the images."
Subsequent flights will add other instruments such as
ultraviolet spectrometers and infrared and ultraviolet sensors.
Green is working with universities, industry and other
government agencies to ensure the SR-71 is accessible to multiple
scientific disciplines. "This is a cooperative effort. We want
to evaluate and develop this plane to make it a national
resource. We want to be a flying observatory," Green added.
The ultraviolet camera system was provided by the Southwest
Research Institute of San Antonio, Texas.
The aircraft is operated by NASA's Dryden Flight Research Facility.
The SR-71 scientific testbed research is funded by the
Aeronautics Technology Division at NASA Headquarters.
___ _____ ___
/_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| Ron Baalke | [email protected]
| | | | __ \ /| | | | Jet Propulsion Lab |
___| | | | |__) |/ | | |__ M/S 525-3684 Telos | It's kind of fun to do
/___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | the impossible.
|_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ | Walt Disney
|
| Drucella Andersen
Headquarters, Washington, D.C. April 20, 1993
Don Nolan
Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, Calif.
RELEASE: 93-071
NASA has modified a former Air Force reconnaissance aircraft
to conduct high- altitude astronomy studies at three times the
speed of sound.
The SR-71A "Blackbird," based at NASA's Ames-Dryden Flight
Research Facility, Edwards, Calif., made its first science flight
on March 9. In the plane's nose bay was an ultraviolet video
camera that studied stars and comets. Future flights will carry a
variety of instruments, including a fiber optics device and an
ultraviolet spectrometer.
"This really is a case of turning swords into plowshares,"
said Jacklyn Green, Project Scientist for the SR-71 science
research platform project at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
(JPL), Pasadena, Calif., which developed the experiments. "We are
taking what was once a spy plane and transforming it into a
useful, cost-effective science platform. This opens up a new
ultraviolet window for research."
During its first mission, the SR-71 climbed to just above
83,000 feet (25.3 kilometers), where scientists can observe stars
and planets at ultraviolet wavelengths that are blocked to ground-
based astronomers.
The SR-71 could perform several other experiments now in the
planning stage, such as infrared studies of the Aurora Borealis by
the University of California, Los Angeles Physics Department and
atmospheric science studies of specific pollutants in the
stratosphere.
"It's significant to the SR-71 program that the unique
capabilities of the aircraft are being viewed by the science
community as a platform for gathering data at high speeds and
altitudes. The SR-71 is the only aircraft that can meet their
needs," said Dave Lux, SR-71 Project Manager at Dryden.
NASA's three Blackbirds also may serve as platforms for
aeronautics studies in NASA's High-Speed Research Program.
"Boeing is investigating the possibility of using the SR-71 for
inlet testing with a subscale engine and supersonic riblet
testing, and McDonnell Douglas is interested in conducting sonic
boom studies," said Neil Matheny, Dryden point of contact for the
program.
The High Speed Research program is researching and developing
technology for a future environmentally friendly, economically
feasible high-speed civil transport. The program is a joint NASA-
industry effort led by NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton,
Va.
|
| Article: 1741
From: [email protected] (UPI)
Newsgroups: clari.tw.aerospace,clari.news.military
Subject: SR-71 'Blackbird' spy plane used in passenger jet research
Date: Sun, 25 Jul 93 15:25:21 EDT
LOS ANGELES (UPI) -- The sleek SR-71 ``Blackbird,'' which for decades
crisscrossed the globe on 2,200-mph Cold War spy missions, has a new job
helping NASA develop technology for future supersonic passenger liners.
``What we're trying to do is generate a database to be used by folks
who do aircraft design,'' said Dave Lux, NASA's SR-71 project manager at
Edwards Air Force Base north of Los Angeles.
``We want to see if by shaping aircraft differently you can redeuce
the 'startle factor''' generated by sonic booms, he said in Sunday's Los
Angeles Daily News.
With the thawing of the Cold War, the legendary SR-71 was grounded in
favor of satellites that take surveillance photos for the U.S. military
and intelligence community.
In its new incarnation, the Blackbird will take to the skies on a $3
million to $4 million NASA research program to see if it's possible to
eliminate or reduce sonic booms for future high-speed airliners.
Researchers say reducing noise is a major challenge in developing
practical 21st century passenger jets capable of flying faster than the
speed of sound -- about 700 mph.
Supersonic passenger aircraft are envisoned as the next great arena
of aviation competition between American industry and its foreign
compeitiors, who are threatening to end decades of American dominance in
the design and construction of commercial aircraft.
The needle-nosed British-French Concorde has been carrying passengers
in luxury at supersonic speed for 17 years across the Atlantic Ocean.
But it is limited to subsonic speed over land because of noise.
Sonic booms are created by air pressure. As an airplane flies, it
pushes aside air molecules much like a boat pushes up a bow wave as it
travels through water.
The air becomes compressed, forming two cone-shaped shock waves at
the nose and tail of the airplane that trail the craft through the air
and along the ground. The release of the pressure as the shock wave
passes is heard as a sonic boom.
NASA wants to see if changes in an aircraft's exterior shape
can smooth out the waves of air pressure and soften the boom. As a
preliminary step to the research, an SR-71's shock waves have been
measured as it flies at about 48,000 feet and 1,200 mph -- conditions a
supersonic jetliner would travel.
The shape of the Blackbird will be modified and new measurements
taken. Flying behind the Blackbird is a F-16XL, a modified F-16 fighter
carrying special equipment to measure the sonic waves.
Flight tests will take about a year.
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