Re:Discovery's Teardrop
by Sanddancer on Monday May 26, 2014 @05:57AM
(#7799208)
Could very well be functional. The rippling looks to me similar to the rippling and unevenness of the SR-71, which wasn't smooth because a smooth surface would be less stable at speed.
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Re:Discovery's Teardrop
by aerocapture on Monday May 26, 2014 @08:57AM
(#7799552)
Actually, portions of the SR-71 skin were corrugated, much like the older (and much slower) Ford Tri-Motor, because the high temperatures of Mach 3+ flight caused the skin to expand and contract dramatically throughout the flight profile. This corrugation was actually against the wishes of the aerodynamicists, who would have preferred a smooth surface.