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DARPA Loses Contact With Hypersonic Glider

Posted by timothy on from the shout-faster dept.

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."

5 of 194 comments (clear)

  1. Does this bother anyone else? by jbarr · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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!
    1. Re:Does this bother anyone else? by geekboybt · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Not really. That's A) what the Twitter site/platform/application are designed to do, and it does it well, and B) Far, far cheaper than rolling their own.

  2. Re:Oh no! by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 3, Funny

    Cover story. SkyNet is now operational.

    --
    "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
    Never been known to fail..."
  3. They should've just had it check in by revjtanton · · Score: 3, Funny

    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!

  4. Re:I don't get it... by Whorhay · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I believe the idea is that it can manuever to avoid whatever countermeasures an enemy may posses. Ballistic missles are launched on and designed to stay on a set trajectory that can not be changed in flight on a split second basis while keeping the same target.