What's This?

The picture was taken from a Satelite at an alt of around 350 miles I
would guess. It is obvious that there are fins aft and stubs at the
mid body. I doubt that we are seeing a contrail, I think we are seeing
exhaust from one or two rocket motors. The stubs at the mid body could
be un deployed wings.
IMHO it is either a cruise missile after launch, but prior to air
start of the air breathing engine, in other words prior to burn out of
the first stage solid rocket motor. Or it is a lifting body type
aircraft like the old X15. I think the former is more likely than the
latter.

On Mon, 5 Mar 2007 16:15:03 -0000, "NoJags Neil"
wrote:

Attached file should open into Google Earth, if you have it installed.

It's tagged as a cruise missile but the "wings" look a little too short.
It's flying in an apparently straight line across Utah, USA.

--

Jim in Houston
osPAm
Nurse's creed: Fill what's empty, empty what's full,
and scratch where it itches!! RN does NOT mean Real Nerd!

"NoJags Neil" wrote:

Attached file should open into Google Earth, if you have it installed.

It's tagged as a cruise missile but the "wings" look a little too short.
It's flying in an apparently straight line across Utah, USA.

Bear in mind that the image is probably distorted by the aircraft's
motion. It's travelling on a nearly north/south line, which just about
parallels the orbital track of most landsats. That may have stretched
the fuselage image.

--Bill Thompson

If you look at the mid section of the aircraft, you can see two dark, swept
wings continuing out from the "stubs". From the distance of the photo, the
dark color doesn't seem to stand out from the background like the white
painted fuselage.
Rob

"Jim" wrote in message
...
The picture was taken from a Satelite at an alt of around 350 miles I
would guess. It is obvious that there are fins aft and stubs at the
mid body. I doubt that we are seeing a contrail, I think we are seeing
exhaust from one or two rocket motors. The stubs at the mid body could
be un deployed wings.
IMHO it is either a cruise missile after launch, but prior to air
start of the air breathing engine, in other words prior to burn out of
the first stage solid rocket motor. Or it is a lifting body type
aircraft like the old X15. I think the former is more likely than the
latter.

On Mon, 5 Mar 2007 16:15:03 -0000, "NoJags Neil"
wrote:

Attached file should open into Google Earth, if you have it installed.

It's tagged as a cruise missile but the "wings" look a little too short.
It's flying in an apparently straight line across Utah, USA.

--

Jim in Houston
osPAm
Nurse's creed: Fill what's empty, empty what's full,
and scratch where it itches!! RN does NOT mean Real Nerd!

Comparing the image to the scale shown on Google Earth it appears that
the wingspan is @75Feet and the fuselage @97Feet. Those are just my
best guesses. The edges aren't very well defined on the image. Given
those sort of dimensions I don't believe this would qualify as a Cruise
Missile. For some comparison Airliners.net provided the following
dimensions.

Gulfstream IV is @78Foot Wingspan, @88feet in the Fuselage
DC9 is listed @90feet, @105Feet Fuselage
CRJ900 @82Feet, 120Feet
CRJ200 @70Feet, 87Feet

Location
N38 13 35 W112 17 56
What airways(air highways) are in the area? Looks like it may be
heading from Arizona to Salt Lake Utah. My Google Earth says the image
was from Digital Globe April 7, 2006.

There are several flights between PHX and SLC that use the CRJ series.
So my guess would be a regional tripper that just happened to be caught
in the act by the passing Sat.

So a few more pieces to the puzzle...oh and a little tracking map that
shows a route that appears to be through the same area.

GMan