A Short Article from the archive of About Facts Net.
The Air Spike. Aviation Week and Space Technology May 15, 1995 had announced that it was now a possibility to substitute energy for mass. A device called an 'air spike' could make it possible for easier hypersonic flight. Two scientists were responsible for this breakthrough. Leik Myrabo, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Rensselaer and Yuri Raizer of the Moscow-based Russian Academy of Science's Institute for Problems in Mechanics. The basic concept is that the shape of an object can be changed by substituting directed energy where there would normally be mass. A nose cone could be created by energy shaped like a nose cone. Not only would the aerodynamics of an object be controlled but also the thermodynamics. This would make it possible for a flying object to be any shape. A whole new set of rules would apply to flying. It’s a funny thing, how many times have we seen pictures of UFOs that seem to change their shape while moving, could this be the reason why? The thermodynamic effects should either eliminate, or reduce drastically, the need for a heat shield on vehicles traveling at hypersonic speeds. I would think it could be used on a space shuttle to eliminate those dangerous tiles that keep falling off. It was estimated that a vehicle traveling at Mach 35 (Mach equals the speed of sound about 750 mph at ground level) would only be subject to the effects of Mach 3 while using the 'air spike'. If one were to use a saucer shaped vehicle with the 'air spike' it could be adjusted so that the compressed air behind the spike would hit the rim of the ship where its energy could be utilized. It would ultra heat the rim area where it hit however. A small cylinder the general shape of an Apollo capsule was tested in a 2 foot diameter air tunnel using a plasma torch to generate the same type of shock wave as the 'air spike'. It was a success, pockets of air formed behind it to protect the cylinder from the heat of friction. It seems this work began in the 1950s and 1960s. In the beginning rocket exhausts were used to try to create the 'air spike' as was water and other systems. Then lasers were proposed but now microwaves are the technology of choice. One of the reasons this research began was to try and significantly drive down the cost of sending an object into orbit. In 1995, when the 'air spike' story appeared, the scientists working on the project stated that by the next century it would be possible to build a small double hulled saucer shaped space plane that would hold 1 person and take him into orbit using silicon carbide materials. Could this be the Aurora, the top secret plane the U.S. never admitted to? Even more coincidentally, Myrabo was associated earlier with the development of a pulse detonation wave engine that used lasers. The proposed craft would use a magnetohydrodynamic fan engine for speeds above Mach 1. Because of the type of power and configuration of the vehicle it would become very bright under high speeds. Again, sounds like those bright pictures of UFOs we've seen, doesn't it? To supply microwaves to our craft we would need a system of satellites that collect them. They would then be beamed down to the earth where they could be beamed up to a traveling ship to supply it with energy to create its 'air spike'. The satellites could be relatively small weighing a total of only 100 pounds because the collector machines would only be about 66 pounds. NASA and the U.S. Air Force say they are interested in the 'air spike' but they also say they believe that it wouldn't supply any immediate benefit, yeah right. Some scientists agree that the thermal protection provided by the 'air spike' can be used immediately. NASA claims that the concept is restricted because there is a limit on the number of microwaves that can be transmitted. No one knows what effect the microwaves would have on the ozone layer right now, or so they say. The 'air spike' story was published eight years ago. It is hard for me to believe that we have done nothing about this concept. Is it possible that we are using it on secret aircraft? As I said above, it might be on the Aurora and the Aurora might be the space plane predicted by Prof. Leik Myrabo. Who knows what else we might have. In a recent article I wrote, Pravda Ru, ran an interview with a Russian General who lamented that the Russians could keep up with any planes we build but were not a competitor in space planes. He seemed to think we have something under wraps.
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