Aurora Specifications


Speed: Speeds are reported to be in the region Mach 6-8

Design:
The Aurora aircraft has an airframe like a flattened American football, about 110 ft long and 60 ft wide, smoothly contoured, and covered in ceramic tiles similar to those used on the Space Shuttle which seem to be coated with "a crystalline patina indicative of sustained exposure to high temperature. . . a burnt
carbon odor exudes from the surface." Power comes from conventional jet engines in the lower fuselage, fed by inlet ducts which open in the tiled surface. Once at supersonic speed, the engines are shut down, and Pulse Detonation Wave Engines take over, ejecting liquid methane or liquid hydrogen onto the
fuselage, where the fuel mist is ignited, possibly by surface heating. Armament: Beneath the fuselage are 121 tile-covered ports, housing  nuclear or conventional munitions. These are ejected downwards at subsonic speed. Mission: Reconnasiance and air-to-ground missions.