Deception Point Page 75

Built by Lockheed, the Aurora looked like a flattened American football. It was 110 feet long, lx feet wide, smoothly contoured with a crystalline patina of thermal tiles much like the seat shuttle. The speed was primarily the result of an exotic parvenu propulsion dodge k instantlyn as a Pulse Detonation Wave Engine, which burn down a mediocre, misted, liquid hydrogen and left a telltale beat contrail in the sky. For this argue, it except flew at night.Tonight, with the luxury of enormous speed, the Delta nerve centre was taking the long way home, out across the open ocean. til now so, they were overtaking their quarry. At this rate, the Delta Force would be arriving on the eastern seaside in under an hour, a good two hours before its prey. at that place had been discussion of tracking and shooting down the plane in question, besides the accountant rightly feared a radar capture of the incident or the burned wreckage might bring on a massive investigation. It was bea t to let the plane land as scheduled, the controller had decided. Once it became fresh where their quarry intended to land, the Delta Force would move in.Now, as Aurora move over the desolate Labrador Sea, Delta-Ones CrypTalk indicated an incoming call. He answered.The situation has changed, the electronic voice in mental strained them. You generate another mark before Rachel Sexton and the scientists land.another(prenominal) mark. Delta-One could feel it. Things were unraveling. The controllers ship had sprung another leak, and the controller considered them to patch it as fast as possible. The ship would not be leaking, Delta-One reminded himself, if we had hit our tag successfully on the Milne Ice Shelf. Delta-One knew damn well he was cleansing up his own mess.A fourth party has become involved, the controller said.Who?The controller paused a moment-and then gave them a name.The three men change startled looks. It was a name they knew well.No wonder the controller sounded antipathetical Delta-One thought. For an operation conceived as a zero-casualty venture, the body count and target profile was climbing fast. He felt his sinews tighten as the controller prompt to inform them exactly how and where they would eliminate this new individual.The stakes have change magnitude considerably, the controller said. Listen closely. I will give you these instructions only once.89High above northern Maine, a G4 jet continue speeding toward Washington. Onboard, Michael Tolland and corky Marlinson looked on as Rachel Sexton began to explain her supposition for why there might be increased hydrogen ions in the fusion crust of the meteorite.NASA has a private test facility called plum tree nominate Station, Rachel explained, hardly able to believe she was pass to talk closely this. Sharing classified information out of protocol was not something she had constantly d iodine, but considering the circumstances, Tolland and Corky had a right to know this. Plum Brook is essentially a test chamber for NASAs most radical new engine systems. Two years ago I wrote a gist near a new design NASA was testing there-something called an expander cycle engine.Corky eyed her suspiciously. Expander cycle engines are still in the theoretical stage. On paper. Nobodys actually testing. Thats decades away.Rachel shook her head. Sorry, Corky. NASA has prototypes. Theyre testing.What? Corky looked skeptical. ECEs run on liquid oxygen-hydrogen, which freezes in space, making the engine worthless to NASA. They said they were not even going to try to build an ECE until they overcame the freezing fuel problem.They overcame it. They got rid of the oxygen and dour the fuel into a slush-hydrogen mixture, which is some kind of cryogenic fuel consisting of sheer hydrogen in a semifrozen state. Its very powerful and very clean burning. Its also a contender for the propulsion system if NASA runs missions to Mars.Corky looked amazed. This cant be true.It better be t rue, Rachel said. I wrote a brief intimately it for the President. My oldtimer was up in arms because NASA wanted to publicly announce slush-hydrogen as a big success, and Pickering wanted the White House to force NASA to book slush-hydrogen classified.Why?Not important, Rachel said, having no intention of sharing more secrets than she had to. The right was that Pickerings desire to classify slush-hydrogens success was to fight a growing subject field security concern few knew existed-the alarming expansion of Chinas space technology. The Chinese were cur bustly developing a deadly for-hire launch platform, which they intended to rent out to high bidders, most of whom would be U.S. enemies. The implications for U.S. security were devastating. Fortunately, the NRO knew China was move a doomed propulsion-fuel model for their launch platform, and Pickering saw no reason to tip them off about NASAs more promising slush-hydrogen propellant.So, Tolland said, looking uneasy, youre g ive tongue to NASA has a clean-burning propulsion system that runs on pure hydrogen?Rachel nodded. I dont have figures, but the exhaust temperatures of these engines are apparently several generation hotter than anything ever before developed. Theyre requiring NASA to develop all kinds of new nozzle materials. She paused. A large gemstone, displace behind one of these slush-hydrogen engines, would be scalded by a hydrogen-rich blast of exhaust fire coming out at an unprecedented temperature. Youd get quite a fusion crust.Come on now Corky said. Are we back to the fake meteorite scenario?Tolland seemed suddenly intrigued. Actually, thats quite an idea. The frame-up would be more or less like leaving a boulder on the launchpad under the space shuttle during liftoff. graven image save me, Corky muttered. Im airborne with idiots.Corky, Tolland said. Hypothetically speaking, a rock placed in an exhaust field would exhibit similar burn features to one that fell through the atmosphere, wouldnt it? Youd have the same directional striations and backflow of the run material.Corky grunted. I suppose.And Rachels clean-burning hydrogen fuel would leave no chemic residue. Only hydrogen. Increased levels of hydrogen ions in the fusion pocking.Corky turn his eyes. Look, if one of these ECE engines actually exists, and runs on slush-hydrogen, I suppose what youre talking about is possible. But its extremely far-fetched.Why? Tolland asked. The demonstrate seems fairly simple.Rachel nodded. All you need is a 190-million-year-old fossilized rock. Blast it in a slush-hydrogen-engine exhaust fire, and live with it in the ice. Instant meteorite.To a tourist, maybe, Corky said, but not to a NASA scientist You still havent explained the chondrulesRachel tried to recall Corkys explanation of how chondrules formed. You said chondrules are caused by rapid heating and cooling events in space, right?Corky sighed. Chondrules form when a rock, chilled in space, suddenly becomes supe rheated to a partial-melt stage-somewhere near 1550 Celsius. Then the rock must cool again, extremely rapidly, hardening the liquid pockets into chondrules.Tolland studied his friend. And this process cant happen on earth?Impossible, Corky said. This planet does not have the temperature variance to cause that kind of rapid shift. Youre talking here about nuclear heat and the absolute zero of space. Those extremes simply dont exist on earth.Rachel considered it. At least not naturally.