Test of hypersonic aircraft fails over Pacific Ocean

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Los Angeles Times:

A test flight of an experimental aircraft capable of speeding through air at 20 times the speed of sound ended prematurely Thursday morning when the arrowhead-shaped plane failed and stopped sending back real-time data to engineers and scientists who were moderating the mission.

In the test flight, the aircraft, known as the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2, was launched at 7:45 a.m. from Vandenberg Air Force Base, located northwest of Santa Barbara, into the upper reaches of Earth's atmosphere aboard an eight-story Minotaur IV rocket, made by Orbital Sciences Corp.

After reaching an undisclosed sub-orbital altitude, the aircraft jettisoned from its protective cover atop the rocket, then nose-dived back toward Earth, leveled out and was supposed to glide above the Pacific at 20 times the speed of sound, or Mach 20.

The plan was for the Falcon to speed westward for 30 minutes before plunging into the ocean near Kwajalein Atoll, about 4,000 miles from Vandenberg.

But about 20 minutes into the mission, the Pentagon’s research arm, known as Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, announced on its Twitter account that: “Range assets have lost telemetry.”
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The path of progress is made over the lessons of past mistakes. Military technology is filled with the lore of ideas that were ahead of their time.

[Argyle58]

I am all for this research, and don't begrudge what is spent on it. However, at a point in time when we are now 16 TRILLION dollars in debt, can we really afford the $320Million that the two aircraft cost......and that doesn't include the BILLIONs of dollars in research that went toward this project.

[SrWoodchuck]

I am all for this research, and don't begrudge what is spent on it. However, at a point in time when we are now 16 TRILLION dollars in debt, can we really afford the $320Million that the two aircraft cost......and that doesn't include the BILLIONs of dollars in research that went toward this project.

I agree, Argyle58!

 

DARPA is needed to stay close to, or ahead of China, but this falls in the same realm of waste as turtle walkways, and Thai prostitute research.

 

It's too bad, because it went 11,600 MPH in a wind tunnel.

 

I could see this as an advantage, if it could be used in conjunction with NASA's plan to put Muslims in space.