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DARPA Loses Contact With Hypersonic Glider
x_IamSpartacus_x writes "DARPA says contact with its experimental hypersonic glider was lost after launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base on the central California coast. The agency says in Twitter postings that its unmanned Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-2 was launched Thursday atop a rocket, successfully separated from the booster and entered the mission's glide phase. The agency says telemetry was subsequently lost, but released no details."
That we're relying on Twitter to get the status of our defense department projects.
My mom always said, "Jim, you're 1 in a million." Given the current population, there are 7000 of me. God help us all!
Cover story. SkyNet is now operational.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
In an unrelated note, British Intelligence just "acquired" a new Hypersonick Glider. No details given yet.
If they're updating us that they lost it with Twitter they should've just had it check in with Foursquare when it landed so they could find it. Duh!
They have probably forgotten about the doppler effect and are surprised it vanished from radio contact.
Yes. A team of engineers would never think of that. That must be it.
Also: it's going Mach 20.
That would be a really big concern for a radio signal traveling at the speed of light. Yes, that puny Mach 20 would really put a hurtin' on that.
We better check the spectral lines of that radio signal to make sure it wasn't redshifted. It may have fallen into a black hole. That's much more likely than something going wrong in an experimental craft produced by a government project.
re: your sig, all civilized men should know when they have no idea what they're talking about and are only babbling, which would be cute except people even more ignorant might be misled by you.
Plasma. Seriously. At that speeds (above Mach 10 I believe), a cone of plasma forms around the aircraft like it does in re-entry of spacecraft and plays major havoc with telecommunications. By which I mean it prevents it unless you design the craft very carefully. Hence, this test.
What that has to do with the Doppler effect... I have no idea.
"None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
So, apparently this hypersonic glider is part of the "Prompt Global Strike" concept, designed to deliver an explosive anywhere on earth in under an hour, for various purposes.
Now, we already have ICBMs that can do that; but we can't use those because ICBMs are typically equipped with thermonuclear warheads, which makes the world pretty jumpy about anybody launching one.
So, we are developing this rocket-boosted hypersonic glider thing that doesn't actually work yet to do it instead.
Here is what I don't understand: Is there anything about this new strike vehicle that would preclude a nuclear warhead in place of the conventional one? If so, it must have pretty serious payload limitations. If not, why would we expect global opinion to be any cheerier about this new toy than about the old one? Is it simply designed to be less visible to sensors than an ICBM?
Poor John Crichton, lost in space now and surrounded by puppets, I mean aliens.
Your presumption is based on this being a near-final design. They're working on the physics of hypersonic craft, and once they get that worked out, they can start figuring out how to design an actual delivery system. A likely final version would be launched by a bomber, not a rocket, and look more like a large cruise missile, at least at weapon release. This keeps the bomber even further outside of enemy territory (or even the territory of friends of the enemy).
I see some other options here, including possible inexpensive multistage orbital launch vehicles, but it depends on how hard it is to design and build something that successfully flies that fast.
You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
when the Falcon hits the ground at Mach 20, the target will get obliterated.
FALCON PUNCH!
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
LGBs are ballistic as well, and yet they can guide themselves well enough...
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
It's in my garage and it's staying there. I've told you kids before, if you keep throwing your toys over my fence you're not getting them back.
"Wait. Something's happening. It's opening up! My God, it's full of apricots!"
The LA Times headline is, "Test of hypersonic aircraft fails." Now let's look at it from the perspective of an engineer, not a drive-by journalist. The first flight sent back nine minutes' worth of telemetry. Today's test transmitted telemetry for 20 minutes. That's a 122% improvement. Any engineer would be happy to get credit for that accomplishment!
That that is is that that that that is not is not.