Hypersonic Aircraft Technology
August 14th 2011 07:33
Category: Equipment
Falcon HTV-3X (DARPA image)
It is good to hear that some experimental broad spectrum flights are still being carried out.
Hypersonic aircraft is a high risk endeavour there are no grantees that the project will succeed.
melt seel.
An HTV-2 was flown last year and it did return some of data before a malfunction caused the aircraft to lose all contact with ground control, the aircraft was unmanned.
According to DARPA the malfunction was caused by heat related issues affecting the outer skin of the aircraft. The hypersonic aircraft can fly from San Francisco to Sydney in 45 minutes.
Loading
The development of this Hypersonic Technology is for the use by the military and can later adapted for domestic flights.
At the moment apart from the aircraft getting itself lost or crashing having an aircraft of this magnitude for domestic flights would take some time to fully develop and even that seems doubtful given the current fiscal circumstances.
The take off is limited as the aircraft drone needs to be strapped to a ballistic missile to take the aircraft to the very edge of space. After the required altitude is achieved the unmanned drone is designed to re-enter the atmosphere and manoeuvre much like a glider reaching speeds in excess of Mach 20 about 21,000km/h.
The chances of finding the missing drone are slim. The experimental aircraft has a self destruct option if the aircraft happens to go pear shaped.
So I guess it is back to the proverbial drawing board.
| 29 |
| Vote |
Add To: 
subscribe to this blog
Comment by S.L.
The Political Brief