Two-Stage-to-Orbit 'Blackstar' System Shelved at Groom Lake?
FYI,
"Two-Stage-to-Orbit 'Blackstar' System Shelved at Groom Lake?
- Spaceplane Shelved?"
Aviation Week & Space Technology
http://www.aviationnow.com/avnow/news/channel_awst_story.jsp?id=news/030606p1.xml
: For 16 years, Aviation Week & Space Technology has investigated
: myriad sightings of a two-stage-to-orbit system that could place a
: small military spaceplane in orbit. Considerable evidence supports
: the existence of such a highly classified system, and top Pentagon
: officials have hinted that it's "out there," but iron-clad
: confirmation that meets AW&ST standards has remained elusive. Now
: facing the possibility that this innovative "Blackstar" system may
: have been shelved, we elected to share what we've learned about it
: with our readers, rather than let an intriguing technological
: breakthrough vanish into "black world" history, known to only a
: few insiders. U.S. intelligence agencies may have quietly
: mothballed a highly classified two-stage-to-orbit spaceplane
: system designed in the 1980s for reconnaissance, satellite-
: insertion and, possibly, weapons delivery. It could be a victim of
: shrinking federal budgets strained by war costs, or it may not
: have met performance or operational goals.
: This two-vehicle "Blackstar" carrier/orbiter system may have been
: declared operational during the 1990s.
: A large "mothership," closely resembling the U.S. Air Force's
: historic XB-70 supersonic bomber, carries the orbital component
: conformally under its fuselage, accelerating to supersonic speeds
: at high altitude before dropping the spaceplane. The orbiter's
: engines fire and boost the vehicle into space. If mission
: requirements dictate, the spaceplane can either reach low Earth
: orbit or remain suborbital.
: The manned orbiter's primary military advantage would be surprise
: overflight. There would be no forewarning of its presence, prior
: to the first orbit, allowing ground targets to be imaged before
: they could be hidden. In contrast, satellite orbits are
: predictable enough that activities having intelligence value can
: be scheduled to avoid overflights.
: Exactly what missions the Blackstar system may have been designed
: for and built to accomplish are as yet unconfirmed, but U.S. Air
: Force Space Command (AFSPC) officers and contractors have been
: toying with similar spaceplane-operational concepts for years.
: Besides reconnaissance, they call for inserting small satellites
: into orbit, and either retrieving or servicing other spacecraft.
: Conceivably, such a vehicle could serve as an anti-satellite or
: space-to-ground weapons-delivery platform, as well.
: Once a Blackstar orbiter reenters the atmosphere, it can land
: horizontally at almost any location having a sufficiently long
: runway. So far, observed spaceplane landings have been reported at
: Hurlburt AFB, Fla.; Kadena AB, Okinawa; and Holloman AFB, N.M.
: The spaceplane is capable of carrying an advanced imaging suite
: that features 1-meter-aperture adaptive optics with an integral
: sodium-ion-sensing laser. By compensating in real-time for
: atmospheric turbulence-caused aberrations sensed by the laser, the
: system is capable of acquiring very detailed images of ground
: targets or in-space objects, according to industry officials
: familiar with the package.
: THE SPACEPLANE'S SMALL CARGO or "Q-bay" also could be configured
: to deliver specialized microsatellites to low Earth orbit or,
: perhaps, be fitted with no-warhead hypervelocity weapons--what
: military visionaries have called "rods from god." Launched from
: the fringes of space, these high-Mach weapons could destroy deeply
: buried bunkers and weapons facilities.
: While frequently the subject of advanced studies, such as the Air
: Force's "Spacecast 2020," actual development and employment of a
: transatmospheric spaceplane have not been confirmed officially
: (AW&ST Sept. 5, 1994, p. 101). However, many sightings of both an
: XB-70-like carrier and a spaceplane have been reported, primarily
: in the western U.S. Only once have they been seen together,
: though.
: On Oct. 4, 1998, the carrier aircraft was spotted flying over Salt
: Lake City at about 2:35 p.m. local time. James Petty, the
: president of JP Rocket Engine Co., saw a small, highly swept-
: winged vehicle nestled under the belly of the XB-70-like aircraft.
: The vehicle appeared to be climbing slowly on a west-southwest
: heading. The sky was clear enough to see both vehicles' leading
: edges, which Petty described as a dark gray or black color.
: For whatever reason, top military space commanders apparently have
: never been "briefed-in"--never told of the Blackstar system's
: existence--even though these are the "warfighters" who might need
: to employ a spaceplane in combat. Consequently, the most likely
: user is an intelligence agency. The National Reconnaissance Office
: may have played a role in the program, but former senior NRO
: officials have denied any knowledge of it.
: One Pentagon official suggests that the Blackstar system
: was "owned" and operated by a team of aerospace contractors,
: ensuring government leaders' plausible deniability. When asked
: about the system, they could honestly say, "we don't have anything
: like that."
: Aerospace industry contractors suggest that a top secret Blackstar
: system could explain why Pentagon leaders readily offered the Air
: Force's nascent unclassified spaceplane project, the briefly
: resurrected SR-71 program and the Army's anti-satellite program
: for elimination from budgets in the late 1990s. At the time, an
: industry official said, "if we're flying a spaceplane, it makes
: sense to kill these cover programs and stop wasting money on
: things we can already do."
: U.S. and European aerospace companies have pushed two-stage-to-
: orbit (TSTO) spaceplane concepts for decades. Most large U.S.
: airframe manufacturers designed spaceplane-type vehicles during
: the 1950s and '60s, and XB-70 program documents include a concept
: for carrying and launching a low-Earth orbiter. Two former test
: pilots and executives for North American Aviation (later,
: Rockwell) said the company had a technically viable plan for such
: a system in the 1950s (AW&ST Aug. 24, 1992, p. 25).
: Boeing is believed to be one of several major aerospace companies
: involved in the Blackstar program. On Oct. 14, 1986, Boeing filed
: a U.S. patent application for an advanced two-stage space
: transportation system. Patent No. 4,802,639, awarded on Feb. 7,
: 1989, details how a small orbiter could be air-dropped from the
: belly of a large delta-winged carrier at Mach 3.3 and 103,800-ft.
: altitude. The spaceplane would be boosted into orbit by its own
: propulsion system, perform an intended mission, then glide back to
: a horizontal landing. Although drawings of aircraft planforms in
: the Boeing patent differ from those of the Blackstar vehicles
: spotted at several USAF bases, the concepts are strikingly
: similar.
: One logical explanation given for why a Blackstar system is
: developed says that, after the shuttle Challenger disaster in
: January 1986, and a subsequent string of expendable-booster
: failures, Pentagon leaders were stunned to learn they no longer
: had "assured access to space." Suddenly, the U.S. needed a means
: to orbit satellites necessary to keep tabs on its Cold War
: adversaries.
: A team of contractors apparently stepped forward, offering to
: build a quick-reaction TSTO system in record time. The system
: could ensure on-demand overflight reconnaissance/surveillance from
: low Earth orbit, and would require minimal development time. Tons
: of material--including long-lead structural items--for a third
: XB-70 Valkyrie had been stored in California warehouses years
: before, and a wealth of data from the X-20 DynaSoar military
: spaceplane program was readily available for application to a
: modern orbiter (see following articles).
: DYNASOAR WAS TERMINATED shortly after President John F. Kennedy
: was assassinated in 1963, after $430 million had been spent on the
: spaceplane's development. Political opposition and the fatal crash
: of XB-70 No. 2 on June 8, 1966, contributed to the bomber
: program's being canceled before Air Vehicle No. 3 could be built.
: However, at one time, there had been plans to mate the two
: vehicles.
: In XB-70 Valkyrie: The Ride to Valhalla, Jeannette Remak and Joe
: Ventolo, Jr., wrote: "One version of the B-70 could have been used
: as a recoverable booster system to launch things into low-Earth
: orbit. . . . The DynaSoar program, the first effort by the [U.S.]
: to use a manned boost-glider to fly in near-orbital space and
: return, was considered in this context in November 1959. The B-70
: was to carry the 10,000-lb. DynaSoar glider and a 40,000-lb.
: liquid rocket booster to 70,000 ft. and release them while
: traveling at Mach 3. With this lofty start, the booster could then
: push the glider into its final 300-mi. orbit."
: The two-stage U.S. spaceplane concept apparently has undergone
: several iterations since then, but the basic idea remained--launch
: a manned boost-glide vehicle from an XB-70-like platform (AW&ST
: Dec. 24, 1990, p. 48; Sept. 24, 1990, p. 28). An aerospace
: industry source said the Air Force once used the "Blackstar"
: moniker, but others suggested the intelligence community referred
: to this TSTO combination as the "SR-3/XOV" system. The SR-3 is the
: large, XB-70-like carrier aircraft, while the small orbital
: vehicles drop-launched at high speed are called XOV-1, XOV-2 and
: so forth. At one time, the XOV designator meant "experimental
: orbital vehicle."
: Based on information gleaned from multiple industry sources, the
: SR-3 features:
: *A roughly 200-ft.-long, clipped-delta-winged planform resembling
: that of the North American Aviation XB-70 trisonic bomber. The
: forward fuselage is believed to be more oval-shaped than was
: depicted in a 1992 artist's rendering (AW&ST Aug. 24, 1992,
: p. 23).
: *Canards that extend from the forward fuselage. These lifting
: surfaces may sweep both fore and aft to compensate for large
: center-of-gravity changes after dropping the spaceplane, based on
: multiple sighting reports.
: *Large, outward-canted vertical tail surfaces at the clipped-
: delta's wingtips.
: *At least four engine exhaust ports, grouped as two well-separated
: banks on either side of the aircraft centerline.
: *Very loud engines. One other classified military aircraft may
: have used the same type of powerplant.
: *Operation at supersonic speeds and altitudes up to 90,000 ft.
: During the system's development cycle, two types of spaceplane
: orbiters may have been flown. Both were a blended wing/fuselage
: lifting-body design, but differed in size. The smaller version was
: about 60-65 ft. long and may have been unmanned or carried a crew
: of two, some say. Industry engineers said this technology
: demonstrator was "a very successful program."
: The larger orbiter is reportedly 97.5 ft. long, has a highly
: swept, blended wing/body planform and a short vertical fin. This
: bulky fin apparently doubles as a buried pylon for conformal
: carriage of the spaceplane beneath the large SR-3. The "Q-bay" for
: transporting an optics-system pallet or other payloads may be
: located aft of the cockpit, with payload doors on top of the
: fuselage.
: Outboard sections of the spaceplane's wing/body cant slightly
: downward, possibly for shock-wave control and compression lift at
: high speeds while in the atmosphere, whether on ascent or reentry.
: The only visible control surfaces are flap- or drag-type panels on
: the wing's trailing edge, one section on each side of the stubby
: vertical fin. A relatively large, spade-shaped section forward of
: the cockpit--which gives the orbiter a "shark-nose" appearance--
: may provide some pitch stability, as well.
: The orbiter's belly appears to be contoured with channels, riblets
: or "strakelets" that direct airflow to engine inlets and help
: dissipate aerodynamic heating. These shallow channels may direct
: air to a complex system of internal, advanced composite-material
: ducts, according to an engineer who says he helped build one
: version of the orbiter in the early 1990s. Air is directed to what
: is believed to be aerospike engines similar to those once planned
: for use on the NASA/Lockheed Martin X-33.
: A former Lockheed Skunk Works official once expressed confidence
: in the X-33 prototype orbiter's powerplants, noting that "they
: have history." Whether this implies the aerospikes had flown
: before, perhaps on an XOV, or simply referred to ground test-
: firings is unknown. The X-33 was a prototype of what was to be the
: single-stage-to-orbit Venture Star (AW&ST Nov. 10, 1997, p. 50).
: Technicians who worked at a McDonnell Douglas plant in St. Louis
: in the late 1980s and early 1990s said much of the XOV's structure
: was made of advanced composite materials. Some wing skin panels
: measured 40 ft. long and 16 ft. wide, yet were only 3/8 in. to
: 1/2 in. thick.
: "Two people could pick them up; they were very light," one said.
: These panels were stacked in a sandwich structure to obtain the
: required thickness, then machined to shape. Although much of the
: structure was honeycomb, it was "incredibly strong, and would
: handle very high temperatures," he noted. Inside skin surfaces
: "were ungodly complicated," though.
: WORK ON THE ORBITER moved at a relatively slow pace until a "fuel
: breakthrough" was made, workers were told. Then, from 1990 through
: 1991, "we lived out there. It was a madhouse," a technician said.
: The new fuel was believed to be a boron-based gel having the
: consistency of toothpaste and high-energy characteristics, but
: occupying less volume than other fuels.
: Regardless of where they land, spaceplane orbiters usually are
: retrieved by one or more "fat" C-5 Galaxy transports. Three of the
: oversized aircraft were modified with 8-ft.-wide "chipmunk cheek"
: extensions on each side of the cargo compartment aft of the nose
: hinge point; an extra six-wheel set of landing gear that partially
: retracts up against the aft fuselage, forward of the ramp; a
: shortened upper deck, and two internal harness/cradle supports.
: These alterations originally were made to enable carriage of dome-
: topped containers measuring 61.2 ft. long, 17.2 ft. wide (maximum)
: and 16.7 ft. tall at the highest point. The containers normally
: protected satellites during transit to launch sites.
: In 1994, NASA sources confirmed that two of the C-5s (Tail Nos.
: 00503 and 00504) were listed on NASA's inventory--although the
: aircraft did not "officially" exist, according to the agency's
: public records. Both transports apparently were deployed only upon
: orders from the administrator's office. The third oversized C-5
: once had a red "CL" on its tail, and supposedly was used by the
: Central Intelligence Agency. All three C-5s may have been retired
: in recent years, according to a NASA contractor.
: CRITICS ARGUE that there was never enough money hidden in
: intelligence and military budgets to fund a small fleet of
: spaceplanes and carrier aircraft. However, those who worked on the
: system's development at several contractor sites say they charged
: time-and-materials costs to a number of well-funded programs.
: Lockheed was the lead contractor for Blackstar orbiters being
: fabricated at McDonnell Douglas in the early 1990s, and workers
: there typically logged their time against a specific Lockheed
: charge number associated with that project. But their time might
: also have been charged to the National Aero-Space Plane (NASP) and
: the Navy's A-12 fighter accounts, they say. Both multibillion-
: dollar programs were canceled with little but technology
: development gains to show for massive expenditures.
: "At first, [supervisors] said we were working on NASP, but this
: thing never looked like anything the public was shown," a
: McDonnell Douglas technician who worked in the company's "black
: hole" facility said. "Later, we were just told, 'Clock it to NASP
: and don't ask questions.' We never did anything that was really
: NASP--and money was never a problem."
: Whether the Blackstar system was ever declared operational or not
: is unknown, but several orbiters may have flown over the years. A
: former program manager at a major aerospace company once
: declared, "There's no question; Lockheed is flying a two-stage
: space vehicle."
: Interestingly, after both Lockheed and Boeing pulled out of the
: NASP competition (or were "eliminated") in the 1980s, they may
: have collaborated to develop the two-stage-to-orbit Blackstar
: system under a highly classified "fast-track" program. However,
: many other contractors' "deep-black" teams probably also were
: involved in order to bring the nation's best expertise to bear on
: what must have been daunting technical challenges.
--
Mark Reiff <markreiff@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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