About three hours ago the federal government’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, DARPA, launched the fastest plane ever into the sky. The Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 is still in research and development, but had its second test run today. And how fast was the plane flying in its test run? The Falcon HTV-2 is supposed to fly through the atmosphere at 13,000 mph. That’s 20 times faster than the speed of sound, and fast enough to fly from New York to Los Angeles in 12 minutes.
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Monitoring stations along the craft’s flight path over the Pacific Ocean could not find the HTV-2, which means the craft is still MIA. We will keep you updated when we hear the latest news from DARPA about the status of the HTV-2.
That would mean you think the space shuttle didn't work? It glided back and made turns from even faster, about mach 25. Very similar sort of craft, hypersonic boost-glide vehicle. It just happened to spend a week in space in-between the boost and the glide phase.
A manned form of what HTV-2 is in fact precisely what the X-20 Dynasoar would have been back in the 1960s. Speed has nothing to do with how hard a turn you make, you still measure the forces in Gs. X-20 would have turned at 2-3 Gs like a bomber would, the end result being a huge turning circle approaching the north-south width of the US... but that doesn't really matter for a realistic mission. The appeal of craft like this is they fly as fast as an ICBM, and yet they are not fixed on a predictable course. That makes them much harder to hit with defensive weapons, and it also means they could over fly reconnaissance or bombing targets over a wide swath of space which aren't all necessarily in a straight line. So think of the craft snaking back and forth rather then making complete turns.
"This cult of special forces is as sensible as to form a Royal Corps of Tree Climbers and say that no soldier who does not wear its green hat with a bunch of oak leaves stuck in it should be expected to climb a tree"
— Field Marshal William Slim 1956
Oh, agreed I should have been clearer.
"Dont think a human pilot would survive mach 20 with the turns used in this testflight..."
I had the youtube vid of the planned testflight in mind, so sorry for the confusion.
The Coast to Coast AM calls about this will be amazing, I guarantee it.
My guess though would be a problem with either the communications module or structural issues causing it to shake apart.
"Doctors keep their scalpels and other instruments handy, for emergencies. Keep your philosophy ready too—ready to understand heaven and earth. In everything you do, even the smallest thing, remember the chain that links them. Nothing earthly succeeds by ignoring heaven, nothing heavenly by ignoring the earth." M.A.A.A
loomer wrote:The Coast to Coast AM calls about this will be amazing, I guarantee it.
My guess though would be a problem with either the communications module or structural issues causing it to shake apart.
Unless they were in a boat in the middle of the Pacific, they'll have nothing to comment about on Coast to Coast.
I'd be betting on control law issues over anything else.
"preemptive killing of cops might not be such a bad idea from a personal saftey[sic] standpoint..." --Keevan Colton
"There's a word for bias you can't see: Yours." -- William Saletan
Now, I'm not one for conspiracies, but this thing is designed to drop nukes from anywhere in the world within an hour. So, wouldn't it just be a perfect target for an evil supervillian to nick and hold the world to ransom with? The signs are there, people...
Yeah, I've always taken the subtext of the Birther movement to be, "The rules don't count here! This is different! HE'S BLACK! BLACK, I SAY! ARE YOU ALL BLIND!?
- Raw Shark
Destiny and fate are for those too weak to forge their own futures. Where we are 'supposed' to be is irrelevent.
First off, Spiro, you're a fucking towering dumbass.
Secondly, sources at DARPA reveal that they're having some trouble with their ship making the transition from reentry to the glide phase. Something about excessive yaw coupling into roll exceeding the thing's control authority, even with RCS control with the aerodynamic controls and a reduced angle of attack the second time. Cue an autonomous self destruct and poof, no moar HTV-2. Twice.
Einhander Sn0m4n wrote:First off, Spiro, you're a fucking towering dumbass.
Secondly, sources at DARPA reveal that they're having some trouble with their ship making the transition from reentry to the glide phase. Something about excessive yaw coupling into roll exceeding the thing's control authority, even with RCS control with the aerodynamic controls and a reduced angle of attack the second time. Cue an autonomous self destruct and poof, no moar HTV-2. Twice.
I am indeed an absolute colossal wanker, and I wonder whether heads will roll for this latest military cock up.
Yeah, I've always taken the subtext of the Birther movement to be, "The rules don't count here! This is different! HE'S BLACK! BLACK, I SAY! ARE YOU ALL BLIND!?
- Raw Shark
Destiny and fate are for those too weak to forge their own futures. Where we are 'supposed' to be is irrelevent.
erik_t wrote:Why would heads roll when an advanced test program doesn't go perfectly smoothly? Do you know how research works?
Do you not know how military research goes? Heads do roll when there's a cock up in front of the general public, having your prototype blow up in your own labs is to be expected from time to time, but the instant we (The public) know anything about it and your prototype blows up again heads will roll.
"A cult is a religion with no political power." -Tom Wolfe Pardon me for sounding like a dick, but I'm playing the tiniest violin in the world right now-Dalton
It's not a prototype of a service system. It's a research and development program. But go ahead, tell me more about how I don't know what's going on in my own field.
erik_t wrote:It's not a prototype of a service system. It's a research and development program. But go ahead, tell me more about how I don't know what's going on in my own field.
You don't know what's going on in your own field.
"A cult is a religion with no political power." -Tom Wolfe Pardon me for sounding like a dick, but I'm playing the tiniest violin in the world right now-Dalton
Mr Bean wrote:
You don't know what's going on in your own field.
My Brother is a PAO with DARPA. He basically is repeating what erik is saying.
"The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles."
Mr Bean wrote:
You don't know what's going on in your own field.
My Brother is a PAO with DARPA. He basically is repeating what erik is saying.
In my defense he did ask me to.
And in this case it looks like he is correct as I've heard nothing like slipshod work or shit contractor work being blamed on this incident instead it is being treated as a testing mishap. I'm guessing it's simply because no contract was on the line and/or the funding budget is still good for DARPA this year.
"A cult is a religion with no political power." -Tom Wolfe Pardon me for sounding like a dick, but I'm playing the tiniest violin in the world right now-Dalton
Wreck recovery is advancing along with every other technology - it may take some time, but it wouldn't surprise me if they do manage to find bits and pieces of it, even in the ocean. With ROV's the ocean depths are no longer inaccessible, even if there is still expense and difficulty in sending our telepresence there.
A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.Leonard Nimoy.
Now I did a job. I got nothing but trouble since I did it, not to mention more than a few unkind words as regard to my character so let me make this abundantly clear. I do the job. And then I get paid.- Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of Serenity, which sums up my feelings regarding the lawsuit discussed here.
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. - John F. Kennedy
