US military officials lost contact with the fastest plane ever built during a hypersonic test flight over the Pacific on Thursday.
The Falcon HTV-2 was launched aboard a rocket from Vandenberg air force base in California, on what at first appeared to be a flawless mission.
However, after separating from the rocket at the edge of space and beginning its return to Earth, the aircraft went silent during the gliding stage of the test flight, when it was due to perform a series of maneuvers as it hurtled through the atmosphere.
Photo: Reuters/DARPA
US Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA) officials announced they had lost communication with the speeding craft 36 minutes into the flight.
The unmanned “hypersonic technology flight” had been expected to reach a top speed of Mach 20, or 20,920kph, and withstand temperatures of 2,000?C caused by the ultrafast flow of air around the aircraft.
At that speed, the plane could travel from London to Sydney in less than an hour and cross the US mainland, from New York to Los Angeles, in 12 minutes.
The plane was born from a DARPA plan called Prompt Global Strike, which sought to give military commanders the ability to strike targets anywhere in the world within an hour.
Had the project worked, the Falcon HTV might have replaced intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The loss of the hypersonic aircraft is a serious setback for engineers trying to perfect the art of flying at such spectacular speeds.
In April last year, the first Falcon test flight, HTV-1, ran into trouble after nine minutes when computers picked up a glitch and steered the aircraft into the sea as a safety precaution.
DARPA only built two Falcon prototypes and has no plans to manufacture any more.
This test flight was their last shot at success before the project is considered for closure.
Had the latest test flight gone to plan, the Falcon HTV-2 would have separated from its rocket high above the atmosphere and entered a steep dive before leveling out and performing a series of subtle maneuvers to test its aerodynamic performance.
At the end of the flight the plane was supposed to have rolled upside down and steered a graceful arc into the ocean.
Engineers had hoped the flight would provide crucial information on the plane’s performance, including the resilience of its carbon composite body and navigation systems supposed to keep it on course as it moved at almost 6.5km per second.
HOLLYWOOD IN TURMOIL: Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton and Cary Elwes lost properties to the flames, while awards events planned for this week have been delayed Fires burning in and around Los Angeles have claimed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Paris Hilton, and led to sweeping disruptions of entertainment events, while at least five people have died. Three awards ceremonies planned for this weekend have been postponed. Next week’s Oscar nominations have been delayed, while tens of thousands of city residents had been displaced and were awaiting word on whether their homes survived the flames — some of them the city’s most famous denizens. More than 1,900 structures had been destroyed and the number was expected to increase. More than 130,000 people
THE ‘MONSTER’: The Philippines on Saturday sent a vessel to confront a 12,000-tonne Chinese ship that had entered its exclusive economic zone The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement. He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area
A group of Uyghur men who were detained in Thailand more than one decade ago said that the Thai government is preparing to deport them to China, alarming activists and family members who say the men are at risk of abuse and torture if they are sent back. Forty-three Uyghur men held in Bangkok made a public appeal to halt what they called an imminent threat of deportation. “We could be imprisoned and we might even lose our lives,” the letter said. “We urgently appeal to all international organizations and countries concerned with human rights to intervene immediately to save us from
Some things might go without saying, but just in case... Belgium’s food agency issued a public health warning as the festive season wrapped up on Tuesday: Do not eat your Christmas tree. The unusual message came after the city of Ghent, an environmentalist stronghold in the country’s East Flanders region, raised eyebrows by posting tips for recycling the conifers on the dinner table. Pointing with enthusiasm to examples from Scandinavia, the town Web site suggested needles could be stripped, blanched and dried — for use in making flavored butter, for instance. Asked what they thought of the idea, the reply
RSS