From: skunk-works-digest-owner@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu To: skunk-works-digest@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu Subject: Skunk Works Digest V2 #44 Reply-To: skunk-works-digest@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu Errors-To: skunk-works-digest-owner@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu Precedence: bulk Skunk Works Digest Wednesday, 6 January 1993 Volume 02 : Number 044 In this issue: Trivia: mac-secret-names Aurora Information Aurora Information See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the skunk-works or skunk-works-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: randy@halcyon.halcyon.com (C. Brandon Gresham, Jr.) Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 02:25:33 -0800 Subject: Trivia: mac-secret-names Aurora & other hidden agendas: > The Macintosh Secret Code-Name List > compiled by Brian Kendig (bskendig@phoenix.Princeton.EDU) > Third revision, 16 April 1992. [ material deleted ] >"Code-name" is my term for the names that machines and software get >before they are released with `official' names. A special subdivision >of Apple has the sole responsibility of naming everything Apple makes, >but until they make up their minds, the developer engineers have to >call their gizmos _something_ while they're working on them... > [ material deleted ] >Macintosh IIcx: Aurora I, Atlantic (in an aborted 16-MHz configuration) >Macintosh IIci: Aurora II, Pacific >Macintosh IIfx: F-16, Stealth, F-19, Blackbird, Zone 5 [ material deleted ] >QuickTime: Project Warhol (an early version, the `warhol' init, > had the icon of a Campbell's soup can) >AppleShare 3.0: Holy Hand Grenade > (The System 7 File Sharing Extension's creator is > 'hhgg', which might be from this but also seems to > refer to the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy".) >FileShare: Killer Rabbit (Lots of Python fans work for Apple...) [ material deleted ] >Macintosh Plus keybd: Nimitz >Apple Extended keybd: Saratoga > (because it's the size of an aircraft carrier; > prototypes were adorned with small model aircraft) [ material deleted ] What could they have been thinking of for the Mac II cx, ci & fx? - -------------- Randy randy@halcyon.com* * * Data is not information is not knowledge is not wisdom. ------------------------------ From: gt6745b@prism.gatech.edu Date: Tue, 5 Jan 93 11:49:54 EST Subject: Aurora Information Here is some information I ran across on the Aurora project. The following section is taken from "Stealth Technology: The Art of Black Magic", by Joseph Jones and edited by Matt Thurber, TAB/Aero Books, McGraw-Hill, 1991, pp. 81-83. LOCKHEED/AIR FORCE AURORA HYPERSONIC STEALTH RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT This program, code-named AURORA, has been confirmed by a retired Air Force official, who said, "USAF has had this type of aircraft on the drawing board for many years now." The name 'Aurora' was thought to have belonged to the B-2 bomber or F-117 stealth fighter, but it is now known to refer to a super-secret hypersonic long-range stealth aircraft designed and built at Lockheed's Skunkworks in Burbank, CA. There have been reports of Auroras flying from Nellis AFB's Area 51 (Watertown Strip) in Groom Dry Lake, Nevada. The Aurora's top spedd is said to be 3,800 miles per hour or more and cruise range 5,750 miles. Operational altitude is between 100,000 and 150,000 feet. With those performance figures, it is likely that the Aurora is intended to replace the aging fleet of Lockheed SR-71 strategic reconnaissance aircraft. The disclosure of the Aurora Mach 5 stealth spy aircraft was apparently made by mistake by the DoD in its 1985 defense budget proposal. One budget document, with the title "Air Breathing Reconnaissance," contained a passing reference to the Lockheed SR-71 spy plane. This was followed by lines that referred to the SR-71's replacement, with the program code name of AURORA. According to reports from various aviation authorities, since 1980, Lockheed and the USAF have been testing a Mach 6 hypersonic research, air- breathing, manned aircraft from the secret test range on Area 51. These reports also state that the Aurora aircraft stemmed from that research program. During mid-1987 congressional hearings, information about AURORA was nearly leaked, but only scant details of the program are known to the public. The Air Force has begun reducing the operational number of SR-71s in inventory during the past few years, so observers of stealth aircraft knew something was up. Air Force Secretary Edward Aldridge explained that SR-71 retirements were simply a result of the expense of operating the Blackbird, but he also admitted that the Air Force is interested in developing a manned reconnaissance aircraft incorporating low-observable technology. The Aurora could be the aircraft sought by the Air Force as an SR-71 replacement. The Mach 5.8 Aurora's engines run on liquid methane. After taking off from Watertown Strip and refueling once in flight, the Aurora reportedly can cross the Pacific Ocean nonstop in 2.5 hours. A modified KC-10 or KC-135 tanker aircraft is said to be used for inflight refueling of the Aurora. The AURORA program was allocated $2.3 billion in 1985. One report stated that there are 25 of the secret hypersonic spy planes already operation- al from Tonapah Base Area 30 in Nevada. Michael David Knight gt6745b@prism.gatech.edu * COMBAT AIRCRAFT: A mix of * Georgia Institute of Technology * sharp teeth, cold steel, * Atlanta, Georgia 30332 * cosmic warlords, and evil * Aerospace Engineering (404)676-0520 * spirits. * ------------------------------ From: davem@ee.ubc.ca (Dave Michelson) Date: Tue, 5 Jan 93 10:01:37 PST Subject: Aurora Information > From: gt6745b@prism.gatech.edu > Message-Id: <9301051649.AA19777@prism> > > Here is some information I ran across on the Aurora project. The > following section is taken from "Stealth Technology: The Art of Black Magic", > by Joseph Jones and edited by Matt Thurber, TAB/Aero Books, McGraw-Hill, > 1991, pp. 81-83.... > Don't forget the nice painting of an Aurora-like vehicle on page 81. (Fig. 7-2. An artist's concept of a hypervelocity vehicle, which was discussed during NATO meetings in September 1986. (U.S. Air Force art, courtesy U.S. Department of Defense)) - -- Dave Michelson davem@ee.ubc.ca ------------------------------ End of Skunk Works Digest V2 #44 ******************************** To subscribe to skunk-works-digest, send the command: subscribe skunk-works-digest in the body of a message to "listserv@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu". If you want to subscribe something other than the account the mail is coming from, such as a local redistribution list, then append that address to the "subscribe" command; for example, to subscribe "local-skunk-works": subscribe skunk-works-digest local-skunk-works@your.domain.net A non-digest (direct mail) version of this list is also available; to subscribe to that instead, replace all instances of "skunk-works-digest" in the commands above with "skunk-works". Back issues are available for anonymous FTP from harbor.ecn.purdue.edu, in /pub/skunk-works/digest/vNN.nMMM (where "NN" is the volume number, and "MMM" is the issue number).