ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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Superfast Military Aircraft Hit Mach 20 Before Ocean Crash, DARPA Says

By Space.com Staff





Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle HTV-2 at 21 km/h


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A superfast unmanned military plane traveled at 20 times the speed of sound and managed to control itself for three minutes before crashing into the Pacific Ocean in a recent test, military officials said.

The prototype Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV-2), billed as the fastest aircraft ever built, splashed down in the Pacific earlier than planned on Aug. 11 shortly after launching from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base on its second-ever test flight.

The HTV-2 experienced some sort of anomaly, prompting the vehicle's autonomous flight safety system to guide it to a controlled splashdown, according to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which oversaw the flight. [Photos: DARPA Hypersonic Glider's Mach 20 Test]

Despite the problem, the aircraft reached speeds around Mach 20 (about 15,000 mph) and was able to control its flight for several minutes, officials said.

"HTV-2 demonstrated stable, aerodynamically controlled Mach 20 hypersonic flight for approximately three minutes," said DARPA director Regina Dugan in an Aug. 14 statement. "We do not yet know the cause of the anomaly for Flight 2."

An artist's illustration of DARPA's Hypersonic Test Vehicle-2 flying at speeds of Mach 20. (Image credit: DARPA)

The HTV-2 is part of an advanced weapons program called Conventional Prompt Global Strike, which is working to develop systems to reach an enemy target anywhere in the world within one hour. It launches on a rocket, then comes streaking back to Earth at enormous speeds, at times heating up to temperatures of nearly 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit.

DARPA officials said last week that the Aug. 11 test flight collected more than nine minutes of data during the entire mission.

The first test flight of the HTV-2 took place in April 2010. That flight lasted about nine minutes, also ending when the aircraft detected an anomaly and crashed itself into the ocean.
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Note from Bud: Just so nobody thinks we're the only ones doing this kind of thing, take a look at this.

China prepares for 2020 tests of 27,000mph hypersonic aircraft that could hit the US


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Well, damn . . .

This is the kind of crap mankind is spending billions of dollars to develop — a mad dash to commit self-genocide!

And yet, we whine about how it's too expensive to build giant orbiting space habitats and advanced lunar colonies!

But when an asteroid hits the Earth and whips out every one of these petty, short-sighted, hate-filled nations, all their puny weapons will be destroyed . . . right along with everything elese mankind has accomplished since the dawn of history.

Ladies and gentlemen, we live in a mad world which is ruled by idiots. Meanwhile, President Trump thinks his idea of a Space Force demonstrates his claim to be "a very stable genius". Presumably the job of the Space Force will be use weapons like the ones shown above to wipe out the Chinese . . . before they wipe out us.

I have little hope that anybody will survive.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)