Aircraft set to reach 20 times the speed of sound in test flight

[n2doc]

An experimental, arrowhead-shaped aircraft that could reach blistering speeds of 13,000 mph above the Pacific Ocean is set to blast off Wednesday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, northwest of Santa Barbara.

The flight is slated to test new technology that would provide the Pentagon a lightning-fast vehicle, capable of delivering a military strike anywhere in the world in less than an hour.

The unmanned aircraft, dubbed Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2, is scheduled to be launched at 7 a.m. PDT into the upper reaches of the Earth's atmosphere aboard an eight-story Minotaur IV rocket, made by Orbital Sciences Corp.

The aircraft will then separate, screech back toward Earth, level out and glide above the Pacific at 20 times the speed of sound, or Mach 20.

To give you an idea of how fast that is: an aircraft at that speed would zip from Los Angeles to New York in less than 12 minutes.

more

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/08/vandenberg-launch-hypersonic-technology-vehicle-falcon.html

[izquierdista]

1. TSA would do their part

Be sure to arrive at the airport 4 hours early for security screening, 6 if you have small children to fondle.

[leveymg]

2. I guess they have to publicly test Vehicle 2, even though they've publicly demonstrated HTV3?

Demonstration flight over China (2010): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnszlJC8iGs

[laconicsax]

3. Not exactly an easy way to go somewhere...

Sure, it could deliver a payload anywhere in the world in less than an hour, but it isn't exactly taking off from a runway. How long does it take to get the thing loaded on the rocket then taken to the launch site?

[Nihil]

4. Ummm ... this would be the one that they've admitted they've lost?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4957240

More of a mach-20 bullet fired into the sea than an "aircraft".

:rofl: