Patent ID: 8789789
Filing Date: 2014-07-29
Classification: B64C

Abstract:
1. An aerospace vehicle configured to reduce the effects of a sonic boom created by said vehicle when said vehicle is flown at supersonic speed, said aerospace vehicle comprising: a fuselage having a leading end, a trailing end, a top, and a bottom; a spike operably associated with the leading end of said fuselage, the spike having a spike leading end and a spike trailing end, the spike leading end tapering toward the spike trailing end, a cross-sectional magnitude of the spike not decreasing from the spike leading end to the spike trailing end, the spike leading end comprising a forward-most portion of the aerospace vehicle, the spike having a plurality of sections, and the spike being substantially free of outwardly extending projections; and a transition region between the spike trailing end and the leading end of the fuselage, the transition region comprising a substantially smooth and gradual change at the spike trailing end from a first contour to a second contour, the first contour substantially conforming to a trailing portion of the spike and the second contour substantially conforming to the leading end of the fuselage, and wherein a longitudinally central region of each section of the spike has a substantially uniform diameter.