It's entirely possible that I put this in a novel that didn't sell.
Worthy of note: the only new information in this is the Jan 14 concept images from Boeing but it's a nice write-up.
There was a time I recognized that patent number.
It's also entirely possible that I'm a fan of that particular concept artist.
Contract writer staring blankly at the screen... "Shit. What the hell am I going to write today?" (looks at bookshelf. Sees Foucault's Pendulum, Sled Driver, and old copies of the Desert Rat newsletter.) "Ok. I know! ... I'll take every single codeword project of the last 40 years and link them together with Area 51 and scramjets and SpaceX! It'll be AMAZING. I will get ALL THE CLICKS.
I can totally see the bay window in this guy's apartment... it is COMPLETELY COVERED with post-it notes and string and printed out articles, all linking to each other, with five different color Sharpie notes connecting them all together.
I mean... he's not WRONG, really. But... damn. That's a lot of writing and research effort to say something pretty much everyone has known for a while, right?
(I did like the touch about the mountains around Groom Lake looking like the mountains in the concept painting... that's dedication.)