textfiles-politics/politicalTextFiles/sr71nasa.txt

Msg#:18489 *AVIATION*
01/25/92 22:44:00 (Read 0 Times)
From: DEAN ADAMS
  To: ALBERT DOBYNS
Subj: SR-71 DATA
 AD> I'm interested in seeing what the researcher's handbook has in it.

OK, here is the best of what I have picked up...

			Lockheed SR-71
	  Supersonic / Hypersonic Research Facility
		     Researcher's Handbook
		  Volume I  Executive Summary

This handbook provides information on use of the SR-71 for basic and applied
research, theoretical or applied development, testing and evaluation of
material or equipment, in any field of user interest in the supersonic/
hypersonic arena.  The purpose of this handbook is to provide an overview
of the capabilities and limitations of the SR-71 as a high altitude, high
Mach, research, development, and test and evaluation (RDT&E) platform

Primary Function .................High Speed Test Platform
Speed ............................More Than 2,000 Miles Per Hour (Mach 3.2)
Altitude .........................Above 80,000 Feet
Number of Engines ................Two J-58 Turbojets with Afterburners
Range ............................More Than 2,000 Miles
Crew .............................Two: Pilot and Test Engineer

Dimensions:
 Span ...........................55.6 Feet
 Length .........................107.4 Feet
 Height (Parked) ................18.5 Feet
 Weight .........................143,000 Pounds

Flight Envelope
  - Maximum Performance
      Mach 3.2+, Altitude: Above 85,000 Feet
  - Airspeeds
      310 - 450 KEAS (Normal)
      500 KEAS (Extended)
  - Dynamic Pressure Range: 325 - 847 lbs/sq.ft
  - Heat Soak: Over 600 F for 60 minutes
  - Remain at Mach 3.00: Over 60 Minutes Per Sortie

Flight Profile-Maximum Range
  - Total Time: ~ 100 Mins
  - Mach 3.0 Time: ~ 64 Mins
  - T/O Gross Wt: 140,000 lbs
  - T/O Fuel: 80,000 lbs

Flight Profile - Maximum A/B Cruise
  - Total Time: ~ 83 Mins
  - Mach 3.0 Time: ~ 48 Mins
  - T/O Gross Wt: 140,000 lbs
  - T/O Fuel: 80,000 lbs

Extended Flight Envelope - Development
  - Beyond 3.2
      Thrust/Drag: Not An Immediate Limit
      Inlet Temperature, Aerostability, and Hot Structure Considerations
      Engineering/Flight Qualification Required
  - Equivalent Airspeed Beyond 500 KEAS
      Engineering/Flight Qualification Required

Demonstrated Integration
  - Lockheed Skunk Works Has Demonstrated Highly Successful Systems
    Engineering/Integration On The SR-71
      Optical Film Cameras (Visual and IR)
      Imaging Radar Systems
      ELINT
      Air-to-Ground Data Linking
      Analog and Digital Recording Devices
      Design of Real-Time Satellite Data Link
      Design of a Global Position System (GPS)
      Captive Test Of Radar For Reentry Vehicle
      Laser Communication

Successful Tests and Demonstrations
  - Overland Sonic Boom Characterization
  - Shuttle Re-Entry Flight Path Emulation
  - Extended High-Heat Profile
  - Digital Automatic Flight/Inlet Control Development
  - Advanced Sensor/EW Interoperability
  - High-Altitude Turbulence Characterization
  - High-Temperature Structure And Thermal Protection Materials

Other RDT&E Testing Potential
  - CFD Code Validation
  - Laminar Flow Control Experiments
  - Upper Atmosphere Characterization
  - Inlet/Engine Compatibility
  - Sonic Boom Evaluation/Propagation
  - High-Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) Component Evaluation
  - Sensor/Processor Experiments
  - Endothermic Fuel Testing

Msg#:19737 *AVIATION*
01/28/92 16:27:52 (Read 0 Times)
From: ALBERT DOBYNS
  To: DEAN ADAMS
Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 18489 (SR-71 DATA)
Great stuff!!  Is there more?

Msg#:19165 *AVIATION*
01/25/92 23:19:00 (Read 0 Times)
From: DEAN ADAMS
  To: ALBERT DOBYNS
Subj: RE: NASA'S NEW NUMBERS
 AD> to take a trip west: gotta get pictures of them with their new numbers!

I just noticed a nice picture in the Jan 13 AW&ST (page 56), of the new
NASA #831 SR-71B refueling from KC-135 #53135 right over Edwards...

Msg#: 9492 *AVIATION*
02/01/92 23:46:00 (Read 0 Times)
From: DEAN ADAMS
  To: ALBERT DOBYNS
Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 4841 (SR-71 DATA)
 AD> Great stuff!!  Is there more?

Yea, I picked up the second half of this data.

			  Lockheed SR-71
	    Supersonic / Hypersonic Research Facility
		      Researcher's Handbook
		   Volume I  Executive Summary	<con't>

Internal Payload Provisions:
  - Large Payload Compartments/Bays
      Abundant Electrical Power: 60KVA, 115/220V, 400Hz
      Abundant Cooling Air: More Than 30 Pounds Per Minute, 35 Deg F Air
      More than 150 Liters LN2 Available
      Accessible Through Large Doors/Hatches
      Existing Payload Upload/Download Provisions

Payload Bay Capacities:
 Payload      Vol (Cu ft)      Typical payload	   Max Dims in Bay (inches)
   Bay	       Each Bay       Weight (Each Bay)      - Typical Mounting
 A (Nose)	  23		    550 lbs		 30 X 30 X 75
    C		  7.2		    150 lbs		 24 X 24 X 16
    D		  12		    230 lbs		 11 X 17 X 80
  K & L 	 29.2/Bay	    900 lbs		 16 X 17 X 92
  M & N 	 21.7/Bay	    200 lbs		 18 X 18 X 49
  P & Q 	 32.0/Bay	    340 lbs		 18 X 18 X 90
  S & T 	 22.7/Bay	    400 lbs		 18 X 18 X 62

Internal Payload Deployment:
  - High Altitude, High Mach Missile Launch
      Demonstrated GAR-9 (Phoenix Type) Launches
      Altitudes from 65,000 to 76,000 feet
      Target Aircraft Was From 500 To 40,000 Feet
      Internal Carriage
      Piston Eject
      All But One Of 7 Launches Successful
	(Failure Caused By Missile Gyro Failure)

Modification Potential:
  - Aircraft Can Be Modified To Accomplish:
      Internal Carriage: Free Flight Deployment
      External Carriage: Captive Experiments
      External Carriage: Free Flight Deployment

External Carriage - Captive:
  - Experiments Designed For SR-71 Integration
    Suggest Potential Of Aircraft For Future
    Experimental Payloads
      Reentry Vehicle Sensor On Half Body
      High-Altitude/High-Mach Air Particulate Sampler
      Full Scale Supersonic Nacelle

Air Particulate Sampler:
		      W1	 W2	    Filter Approach
       Flow Rate     Inlet	Exit	   Velocity - Maximum
	 SCFM	     Width	Width		  FPS

	  708	     5.43	1.00		  177
	 1000	     7.68	1.71		  258

Upper Surface Flow Field
  Local Flow Conditions Are Uniform
  Within A Large Region In The Expansion
  Dominated Flow Above The Aircraft

External payload Deployments
  - D-21 Supersonic Drone.   5 Successfully Launched At Mach 3.
  - Advanced Concepts - Hypersonic Research Vehicle. Studied But Not Developed
  - Upper Or Lower Deployment Possible

Msg#:11067 *AVIATION*
02/04/92 21:50:00 (Read 1 Times)
From: DEAN ADAMS
  To: ALL
Subj: NASA SR-71/YF-12 DATA (1/2)
Here is a four page fact sheet I recently picked up at the Dryden PA office.
It has a lot of interesting information about current and past Blackbird
activities at NASA Ames-Dryden...
---------------------------------------------------------------------

NASA Facts
Ames Research Center
Dryden Flight Research Facility

				   SR-71
			      "The Blackbird"

Three SR-71 aircraft have been loaned to NASA by the U.S. Air Force as
testbeds for high speed, high altitude aeronautical research.  The aircraft,
two SR-71A's and the only SR-71B pilot trainer aircraft in operation, are
based at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, Calif.

Developed for the U.S. Air Force as a reconnaissance aircraft more than
27 years ago, SR-71's are still the world's fastest and highest-flying
production aircraft.

The aircraft can fly more than 2200 mph (Mach 3+ or more than three times
the speed of sound) and at altitudes of over 85,000 feet.  This operating
environment makes the aircraft excellent platforms to carry out research
and experiments in a variety of areas -- aerodynamics, propulsion,
structures, thermal protection materials, high-speed and high-temperature
instrumentation, and sonic boom characterization.

Data from the SR-71 high speed research program will be used to aid
designers of future supersonic/hypersonic aircraft and propulsion
systems.  Beneficiaries of this data include a future high speed civil
transport and the National Aero-Space Plane (NASP) program.


			   Program Management

The SR-71 program at Dryden is part of NASA's overall high speed aeronautical
research program, and is expected to involve many NASA research centers, and
other government agencies.

Project manager at Dryden is David P. Lux


			   NASA Flight Crews

Each NASA crew consists of a pilot and a flight engineer.

Currently assigned as SR-71 project pilots at Dryden are Stephen D. Ishmael
and Roger E. Smith.  Flight engineers are Robert E. Meyer and Marta Bohn-
Meyer.	The Meyers are the first husband-wife team of aeronautical engineers
on flight status at Dryden.

Both pilot-engineer crews have trained for many hours in the SR-71 flight
simulator at Dryden to become thoroughly acquainted with aircraft systems
and operational procedures.  The simulator is the same unit used by Air
Force personnel at Beale AFB, Calif., before the SR-71s were retired from
military service in 1990.

As military aircraft, SR-71's had a crew of two -- a pilot and a
reconnaissance systems officer.


			    Mach 3 at Dryden

Dryden has a decade of experience at sustained speeds above Mach 3.
Two YF-12 aircraft were flown at the facility between December 1969 and
November 1979 in a joint NASA/Air Force program to learn more about the
capabilities and limitations of high speed, high altitude flight.

The YF-12s were prototypes of a planned interceptor aircraft based on a
design that later evolved into the SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft.

Research information from the YF-12 program was used to validate analytical
theories and wind tunnel test techniques to help improve the design and
performance of future military and civil aircraft.  The then-developing
American supersonic transport project would have benefited greatly from
YF-12 research data.

The aircraft were a YF-12A (serial 935) and a YF-12C (serial 937).  They
logged a combined total of 242 flights during the program.  A third aircraft,
a YF-12A (serial 936), was flown by Air Force crews early in the program.
It was lost because of an inflight fire in June 1971.  The crew was not hurt.

The YF-12s were used for a wide range of experiments and research.  Among the
areas investigated were aerodynamic loads, aerodynamic drag and skin
friction, heat transfer, thermal stresses, airframe and propulsion system
interactions, inlet control systems, high altitude turbulence, boundary layer
flow, landing gear dynamics, measurement of engine effluents for pollution
studies, noise measurements, and evaluation of a maintenance monitoring and
recording system.

On many YF-12 flights medical researchers obtained information on the
physiological and biomedical aspects of crews flying at sustained high
speeds.

From February 1972 until July 1973, the YF-12A was used for heat loads testing
in Dryden's High Temperature Loads Laboratory (now the Thermostructures
Research Facility).  The data helped improve theoretical prediction methods
and computer models of that era dealing with structural loads, materials, and
heat distribution at up to 800 degrees (F), the same surface temperatures
reached during sustained speeds of Mach 3.


		  SR-71 Specifications & Performance

The SR-71 is a delta-wing aircraft designed and built by Lockheed.  They
are powered by two Pratt and Whitney J-58 axial-flow turbojets with
afterburners, each producing 32,500 pounds of thrust.

Speed of the aircraft is announced at Mach 3.2 -- more than 2000 mph.  They
have a range of more than 2000 miles and fly at altitudes of over 85,000 ft.

As research platforms, the aircraft can cruise at Mach 3 for more than one
hour.  For thermal experiments, this can produce heat soak temperatures of
more than 600 degrees (F).

The aircraft are 107.4 feet long, have a wing span of 55.6 feet, and are
18.5 feet high (ground to top of rudders when parked).

Gross takeoff weight is about 140,000 pounds, including a fuel weight of
80,000 pounds.

The airframes are built almost entirely of titanium and titanium alloys to
withstand heat generated by sustained Mach 3 flight.

Aerodynamic control surfaces consist of all-moving vertical tail surfaces
above each engine nacelle, ailerons on the outer wings, and elevators on
the trailing edges between the engine exhaust nozzles.

The three SR-71's at Dryden have been assigned the following NASA tail numbers:
NASA 831 (B model), military serial 64-17956, manufactured in September 1965;
NASA 832 (A model), military serial 64-17971, manufactured in October 1966;
NASA 844 (A model), military serial 64-17980, manufactured in July 1967.


			    Development History

The SR-71 was designed by a team of Lockheed personnel led by Clarence
"Kelly" Johnson, at that time vice president of the company's Advanced
Development Projects.  The Advanced Development Projects is commonly
referred to as the "Skunk Works".

The basic design of the SR-71 and YF-12 aircraft originated in secrecy in the
late 1950s with the aircraft designation of A-11.  Its existence was publicly
announced by President Lyndon Johnson on Feb. 29, 1964, when he announced that
an A-11 had flown at sustained speeds of over 2000 mph during tests at
Edwards, Calif.

Development of the SR-71's from the A-11 design, as strategic reconnaissance
aircraft, began in February 1963.  First flights of an SR-71 was on Dec. 22,
1964.

The YF-12's were experimental long-range interceptor versions of the same
airframe and were first displayed publicly at Edwards on Sept. 30, 1964.

				 -nasa-
December 1991