Hypersonic flight a work in progress
August 11th, 2011 | Air Force DARPA Flightlines | Posted by David Larter
The test flight of a hypersonic unmanned aerial vehicle over the Pacific Ocean did not go as planned.
For the second time, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency lost control of the experiment before it was over, tweeting nine minutes into the flight that scientists had lost telemetry with the fastest aircraft ever built.
Here’s how DARPA explains it:
“Here’s what we know,” said Air Force Maj. Chris Schulz, DARPA HTV-2 program manager and PhD in aerospace engineering. “We know how to boost the aircraft to near space. We know how to insert the aircraft into atmospheric hypersonic flight. We do not yet know how to achieve the desired control during the aerodynamic phase of flight. It’s vexing; I’m confident there is a solution. We have to find it.”
“Prior to flight, the technical team completed the most sophisticated simulations and extensive wind tunnel tests possible. But these ground tests have not yielded the necessary knowledge. Filling the gaps in our understanding of hypersonic flight in this demanding regime requires that we be willing to fly,” said DARPA Director Regina Dugan. “In the April 2010 test, we obtained four times the amount of data previously available at these speeds. Today more than 20 air, land, sea and space data collection systems were operational. We’ll learn. We’ll try again. That’s what it takes.”
DARPA says it’s back to the drawing board for researchers to comb through data and see what went wrong during the flight.
If you are worried this thing is going to end up leveling your house in the next few minutes, fear not. DARPA says the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 has an auto-off that will cause it to ditch in the Pacific when it looses contact.
NYC to LA in 12 minutes
August 10th, 2011 | China DARPA Flightlines | Posted by David Larter
News broke today that China is launching its first aircraft carrier for sea trials this week fueling concerns about China’s rise as a military power in Asia. And while the jury is out on just how much China’s improving capabilities threaten the U.S. and its interests in the region, what is certain is that not only did the U.S. figure out how to use carriers 70 years ago, we’ve also got 11 of them.
Here’s something else for Beijing to ponder while it’s tooling around off its coast in decades-old technology: The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency today at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., is scheduled to test a remotely piloted aircraft that can fly as fast as Mach 22 and can make the flight from New York to Los Angeles in 12 minutes. If you’re keeping score at home, DARPA says the Falcon HTV-2 can reach and sustain speeds of 13,000 mph. Called the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2, it is designed to eventually give the Air Force the ability to reach out and touch anywhere in the world in less than an hour. You can read all about the technology here.
A release from DARPA yesterday previewed today’s launch, the second test flight in the program’s history:
A technology demonstration and data-gathering platform, the HTV-2 is packaged in a special capsule atop the launch-ready Minotaur IV Lite rocket.
After the Minotaur rocket launches and nears orbit, HTV-2 will separate and fly at a hypersonic glide trajectory within the earth’s atmosphere Mach 20 speeds, approximately 13,000 miles per hour.
During the second flight test, more than 20 land, air, sea and space test assets will collect data needed to improve predictions, through modeling and simulation, of future hypersonic flight vehicle performance—ultimately leading toward the capability of reaching anywhere in the world in under an hour.
So while it’s been a somewhat depressing week here in the US of A by any standard, we can tuck this one away in the “positive development” column.
Update: Today’s launch has been scrubbed for weather and is rescheduled for tomorrow morning.