European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 13, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Aircraft on the cutting nasal a Fleet Points toward the future by Donald j. Frederick National geographic he ungainly air plane with Long droopy wings looks More like a glider than a spacecraft but it sounds like a rocket As it roars off the runway. The er2 soars almost straight up into a hazy sky. In seconds it is a Distant pinpoint. Successors to the u-2 spy planes of the cold War Days in the 1950s, the three er-2 aircraft flown at Nasa s Ames research Center in Mountain View Calif., can cruise above 70,000 meters. These Days they Are used to investigate Earth s atmosphere. Their instruments recently collected valuable data on the Antarctic Ozone Hole. These planes Are part of an 108-aircraft Fleet operated by the National aeronautics and space administration that is often forgotten in the hoopla surrounding space shuttles and satellites. But this Quot air Force Quot is unlike any other in the world. The sophisticated Fleet includes everything from advanced Jet fighters and helicopters to airborne observatories and Boeing 74 7 jumbo jets that ferry space shuttles on their backs. The largest number of planes Are the 29 aging t-38a twin engine jets based at the Johnson space Center in Houston. Astronauts use them to maintain their flying skills. But the focus for most of Nasa s air Force is science or research and nowhere is this More evident than at Ames and its affiliate the Dryden flight research Center at Edwards fab near los Angeles. Quot we re Here to conduct aeronautical flight research for the aerospace Community Quot says Theodore g. Ayers Dryden s Deputy director we re willing to take the risks where Industry is unwilling to do so. Our goal is to provide the1 advanced technology that can be used in future aircraft or spacecraft Quot experts at Dryden Are trying to integrate the engine and flight controls on an f-15 fighter the mainstay of the air Force s interceptor Fleet. The goal is to program the aircraft so that it can land using Only engine controls even if vital components such As ailerons rudders elevators and flaps Are damaged. The research will apply to both civilian and military aircraft. Technicians Are also putting a sleek unusual Delta Wing f-16xl air Force Jet through its paces to learn More about the influence of air flow on aircraft at sustained supersonic speeds. The Wing design is similar to those being considered for future supersonic passenger jets. Ayers thinks it s time to look at Radical alternatives such As a Quot flying  Quot an advanced transport could be a swept Wing with no body at All capable of carrying 600 or More people Quot he says. Quot other aircraft of the future might sport twin fuselages. Quot i think we re so prejudiced As to what we think an air plane should look like that we need to open our minds a bit like the germans and British did during world War ii and Start looking at some alternative  at the other extreme is Nasa s Vintage b-52 bomber the oldest still flying. It has been at Dryden since 1959.Quot we would never have been Able to predict All the programs it has served Quot says Milton o. Thompson chief Engineer at the flight research facility. Quot now it s sometimes used As a rocket  to lower launch costs and increase dependability winged rockets carrying Small satellites Are released from the b-52 after it reaches altitudes of 40,000 feet or More. Once in orbit the rocket deploys the satellites. At Ames the Large aircraft in the Nasa Fleet Are devoted to science a converted c-141a military cargo plane equipped with a 3 i Inch reflecting Telescope regularly patrols the skies the world s Only airborne astronomical research Observatory. Cruising at 12,500 meters Well above most of Earth s atmosphere and its water vapor astronomers have used the flying _ Telescope to sight the rings around uranus identify an atmosphere on Pluto and track Hailey s Comet. Plans Are under Way for an even bigger flying Observatory a Boeing 747 that would carry a 2.5-meter Telescope. A Douglas dc-8 transport its Long Interior divided into a series of work station cubicles serves As an airborne research Quot Laboratory for scientists with earthbound concerns. Some flights have carried As Many As 30 scientists working in experiments dealing with everything from oceanography to atmospheric chemistry. Quot the dc-8 has been a big player in. Searching out the Ozone question Quot says Mission manager Mark a. Koozer. Quot it has flown Over both the North and South poles with instruments measuring atmospheric conditions that might decrease Ozone  fitted with arrays of sensors a Nasa c-130 Hercules Turboprop a Workhorse in both military and civilian cargo fleets collects information for scientists around the world. Quot most of its work involves Remote sensing of the Earth looking at geology Plant growth soil moisture Quot Koozer says. Quot for instance the aircraft recently returned from niger where instruments measuring Soi moisture Analysed a slice of the country near the Sahara. We wanted to find out if the desert is expanding due to climatic conditions or because of Man s use or abuse of the  also at Ames the fastest known planes in the world a three sr-71 blackbirds acquired from the air Force a Are being be used to study concepts for a new transport that Cou a Fly in the upper fringes of the atmosphere at speeds of More than 3,800 Mph. Some of the most ambitious flight research at Ames involves helicopters. Quot we re using an old cobra gunship in experiments involving voice controls Quot says James l. Martin chief of the Ames research aircraft operations division. Quot eventually we Hope a Pilot will be Able to talk to a computer which would recognize his voice and carry out his commands. Instructions might be anything from readying the guns to tuning radio frequencies or Reading out certain emergency  besides the noise inside a helicopter one of the biggest drawbacks to such a scheme has been the inflections in a Pilot s voice. Quot when people get excited or stressed their voices change a Little bit and we Haven t been Able to compensate for that yet Quot Martin says. National  National geographic old War Bird still earning its wings by Kathy Sawyer the Washington Post the sr-71 Blackbird can outrage a Rifle Bullet. But Here it was nine Miles above the California desert struggling to slow Down to Only 1.8 times the Speed of sound. It flies Best at Mach 3.2 2,200 Mph generating so much heat from friction that its Frame expands by 6 inches. And it soars easily up past 85,000 feet flirting along the Blue Black outer boundaries of Earth s atmosphere where the stars come out in the daytime. For decades of cold War the sculpted Black Craft had dashed on demand across hostile Borders around the Globe snatching photo images and electronic signals a intelligence for the president. Then in 1990, the air Force stunned die world by retiring it. Nov the former spy has joined the ranks of cold warriors trying to make it As civilians. The or is trying its wings As a National aeronautics and space administration research platform for aircraft engineers and astronomers testing new materials and designs carrying telescopes and other instruments to the verge of space. Quot in earlier times the flight test business was aimed at going higher and faster Quot said Ken Szatai manager of Nasa s Dryden flight research Center at Edwards fab Calif. Quot now it s economics and  this particular test required the or to mimic the slower lower Aldrude performance of a planned  commercial supersonic jetliner its handlers explained and in the process to Quot Boom the hell Quot out of the desert towns below the flight path. The audible booms Are created by sudden increases in air pressure. As a plane Breaks the sound Quot Barrier it shoves the air forcefully aside forming multiple Shock Waves off its nose wings and Tail. The base of the Cone of shocked air in this Case about 50 Miles wide a is dragged across the landscape below. The Sharp release of pressure after the Shock creates the Boom. Flight Engineer Marta Bohn Meyer called Crisp navigation cues to Pilot Rogers Smith As he hustled to adjust the heavy controls like a jockey reining in a runaway horse in order to hold the Speed to a Mere 1,200 Mph. Meanwhile a smaller experimental Jet equipped with sensors converged on the or and eased into the heavy turbulence of the Shock Waves 60 feet below. The second Crew a including Bohn Meyer s husband Robert Meyer a Felt the buffeting heard the Roar of the Blackbird s afterburners disappear and knew they were inside the Cone of silence. Quot backing out Quot they radioed. Unprecedented data gathered by the f-16xl, probing unusually close to the or is expected to help engineers develop new aircraft designs that will Quot eliminate the startle Factor Quot from sonic booms changing them from a Thunderclap to More of a soft rumble and enabling commercial supersonic Craft to Fly More land routes or project manager Dave Lux said. The european concorde must confine its booms to open Waters limiting its efficiency and profitability. The 108-foot-Long or is uniquely suited for the tests Tux said because of its Large size a one third that of the planned High Speed jetliner a and its ability to Fly supersonic for Long periods. Most of the or Fleet is museum fodder or worse. But Nasa has won congressional funding of $2 million a year at least through 1994, to keep three sri in service at $120,000 per flight. Per Tugni. While the or focuses on aeronautical engineering planetary scientist Jacklyn Green of Nasa s Jet prop. Laboratory is leading an Effort to demonstrate its abilities a. A a 1. I Viu Iury is it aging an Tenori to  As a peacetime airborne science Observatory carrying cameras and instruments to look up As Well As Down at everything from stars and meteors to volcanoes. As or project scientist Green says she is sold on the plane As a research platform that can approximate Many characteristics of a spacecraft with far less risk Cost and delay. A sr-71 Blackbird streaks through the sky on a Mission to investigate the Earth s atmosphere. National geographic 16 the stars and stripes monday december 13f 1993 the stars and stripes