Pentagon: Aircraft flew at 20 times the speed of sound [Video]

The Pentagon released video of a test flight of an unmanned experimental aircraft as it sped through air at 13,000 mph this month above the Pacific Ocean.

The video was “captured from a hand-held camera operated by a crew member aboard the Pacific Tracker — the first sea-borne telemetry collection asset able to visually monitor” the aircraft in its test flight.

In the test flight, the aircraft, known as the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2, was launched Aug. 11 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, northwest of Santa Barbara, into the upper reaches of Earth's atmosphere aboard an eight-story Minotaur IV rocket, made by Orbital Sciences Corp.

After reaching an undisclosed suborbital altitude, the aircraft jettisoned from its protective cover atop the rocket, then nose-dived back toward Earth, leveled out and was supposed to glide above the Pacific at 20 times the speed of sound, or Mach 20.

The plan was for the Falcon to speed westward for 30 minutes before plunging into the ocean near Kwajalein Atoll, about 4,000 miles from Vandenberg. But the Pentagon’s research arm, known as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, which was responsible for the test, lost its data connection with the arrowhead-shaped plane.

Subsequently, the Falcon failed three minutes into the flight and splashed down in the Pacific.

But on Thursday, DARPA issued a release saying that the flight wasn’t a complete failure, and that more than 20 air, land, sea and space data collection systems were operational.

“Scientists believe that very high-quality data collected from the combined test range assets will aid our further understanding of this unique flight environment,” DARPA said. “The footage released today shows how rapidly a vehicle can travel from horizon to horizon at Mach 20.”

It was the second and last scheduled flight for the Falcon program, which began in 2003 and cost taxpayers about $320 million. Both flights failed to go the distance.

 

RELATED:

Falcon hypersonic vehicle test flight fails

DARPA issues statement on failed flight of hypersonic aircraft

Testing the Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2

-- W.J. Hennigan
twitter.com/wjhenn

Image: An artist's rendering of the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2. Credit: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

DARPA issues statement on failed flight of hypersonic aircraft

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency released a statement on today’s flight of the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2.

According to the statement, DARPA, as the agency is known, said that everything was going to plan up until the glide phase, which occurred about nine minutes into flight.

As we reported earlier: The Falcon launched at 7:45 a.m. from Vandenberg Air Force Base, northwest of Santa Barbara, into the upper reaches of Earth's atmosphere aboard an eight-story Minotaur IV rocket, made by Orbital Sciences Corp.

After reaching an undisclosed sub-orbital altitude, the aircraft jettisoned from its protective cover atop the rocket, then nose-dived back toward Earth, leveled out and began to glide above the Pacific at 20 times the speed of sound, or Mach 20.

Then the trouble began.

“Here’s what we know,” said Air Force Maj. Chris Schulz, DARPA’s program manager. “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.”

DARPA also said that information was gathered from more than 20 air, land, sea and space data collection systems.

“We’ll learn. We’ll try again. That’s what it takes,” said DARPA Director Regina Dugan.

That’s an interesting statement because Thursday’s launch was the second and last scheduled flight for the Falcon program, which began in 2003 and cost taxpayers about $320 million.

“DARPA has assembled a team of experts that will analyze the flight data collected during today’s test flight, expanding our technical understanding of this incredibly harsh flight regime,” said Schulz, the prograam manager. “As today’s flight indicates, high-Mach flight in the atmosphere is virtually uncharted territory. ”

A more in-depth story is posted here.

Take a look at the animated video above on what DARPA envisioned the Falcon's test flight accomplishing.

RELATED:

Test of hypersonic aircraft fails over Pacific Ocean

Launch of hypersonic aircraft pushed back a day by weather

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

-- W.J. Hennigan

twitter.com/wjhenn

Test of hypersonic aircraft fails over Pacific Ocean

 A test flight of an experimental aircraft capable of speeding through air at 20 times the speed of sound ended prematurely Thursday morning when the arrowhead-shaped plane failed and stopped sending back real-time data to engineers and scientists who were moderating the mission.

In the test flight, the aircraft, known as the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2, was launched at 7:45 a.m. from Vandenberg Air Force Base, located northwest of Santa Barbara, into the upper reaches of  Earth's  atmosphere aboard an eight-story Minotaur IV rocket, made by Orbital Sciences Corp.

After reaching an undisclosed sub-orbital altitude, the aircraft jettisoned from its protective cover atop the rocket, then nose-dived back toward Earth, leveled out and was supposed to glide above the Pacific at 20 times the speed of sound, or Mach 20.

The plan was for the Falcon to speed westward for 30 minutes before plunging into the ocean near Kwajalein Atoll, about 4,000 miles from Vandenberg.

But about 20 minutes into the mission, the Pentagon’s research arm, known as Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, announced on its Twitter account that: “Range assets have lost telemetry.”

It sounds eerily similar to the problems that plagued the Falcon’s first flight, which took place in April 2010. That test flight ended prematurely with only nine minutes of flight time. Engineers went back to the drawing board and were believed to have had things ironed out.

If you have visions of this thing headed back to your house, DARPA sent out another tweet  with the reassurance that the Falcon "has an autonomous flight termination capability," which likely means it ditched itself into the Pacific.

A more in-depth story is posted here.

RELATED:

Launch of hypersonic aircraft pushed back a day by weather

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

Experimental X-51 WaveRider aircraft's flight was 'less than successful,' Air Force says

-- W.J. Hennigan

twitter.com/wjhenn

Image:  An artist's rendering of the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2. Credit: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Launch of hypersonic aircraft pushed back a day by weather

The launch of an experimental aircraft capable of reaching 13,000 mph was scrubbed Wednesday because of bad weather at Vandenberg Air Force Base, northwest of Santa Barbara.

The unmanned aircraft, dubbed Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2, was scheduled to be launched at 7 a.m. PDT aboard a Minotaur IV rocket, made by Orbital Sciences Corp. But when that time rolled around the Air Force held the countdown.

A half-hour later, Vandenberg officials announced on the base’s Facebook page: "Today's launch of the Minotaur IV rocket has been scrubbed due to poor weather downrange. The launch has been rescheduled for tomorrow, Aug. 11, between the launch window of 7 a.m. to 1 p.m."

Jeremy Eggers, a spokesmen at Vandenberg, later said in an email that "clouds, showers, and areas of lightning downrange have delayed our launch today. Weather conditions downrange look more favorable for a launch tomorrow." 

The arrowhead-shaped Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2, built by Lockheed Martin Corp., is testing new technology that promises to deliver a military vehicle that can deliver a strike anywhere in the world in less than an hour -- part of its “prompt global strike” concept.

The program is being funded by U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA.

RELATED:

Aircraft can reach 20 times speed of sound

X-51 WaveRider's flight 'less than successful'

Hypersonic aircraft shatters aviation records

-- W.J. Hennigan

twitter.com/wjhenn

Photo: A Minotaur IV carrying the first Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 is launched at Vandenberg Air Force Base on April 22, 2010. Credit: Senior Airman Andrew Satran / U.S. Air Force

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

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.

The aircraft is expected to splash down about half an hour later and sink near Kwajalein Atoll, about 4,000 miles from Vandenberg.

The launch Wednesday will be the second flight of the Falcon. The first flight, which took place in April 2010, ended prematurely with only 9 minutes of flight time.

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is funding the program, said the first flight was "used to improve aerodynamic models and to optimize the vehicle design and trajectory for flight two."

Sustaining hypersonic flight, or speeds beyond Mach 5, has been extremely difficult for aeronautical engineers to perfect over the years.

In June, the U.S. Air Force had to prematurely end a test flight of its experimental X-51 WaveRider plane when a lapse in airflow to the jet engine caused a shutdown.

The second flight of the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2, which is built by Lockheed Martin Corp., is set to be its last -- unless the government provides more funding. And unlike many rocket launches these days, it's not set to be webcast.

RELATED:

Experimental X-51 WaveRider aircraft's flight was 'less than successful,' Air Force says

Air Force to retest X-51 WaveRider hypersonic aircraft near Point Mugu

Hypersonic aircraft shatters aviation records

-- W.J. Hennigan

twitter.com/wjhenn

Images, from top:  An artist's rendering of the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2. Credit: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. First launch in April 2010 of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 aboard a Minotaur IV from Vandenberg Air Force Base. Credit: Andrew Lee / U.S. Air Force.

UCLA researchers developing batteries the size of a grain of salt

A battery that's the size of a grain of salt?

That's the goal for a group of scientists and engineers at UCLA, who are working to develop a tiny version of lithium-ion batteries, which are typically found in laptops, cellphones and iPods.

At this point, the research is still in its early stages. But the technology could one day be used to power miniature electronic devices.

The batteries work because lithium ions move back and forth from a negative electrode to a positive electrode, creating energy. UCLA professor Jane Chang is developing the electrolyte that allows a charge to flow between electrodes for the proposed mini-batteries.

"We need to make the footprint much smaller," Chang said in a statement. She discussed the technology last month at a scientific symposium in Albuquerque. 

The U.S. military, which uses lithium-ion batteries in everything from hand-held electronics to mini-submarines, stands to benefit from the technology. The program is being funded by the Pentagon’s famed Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA.

-- W.J. Hennigan

A flying Humvee? Don't scoff, Pentagon wants one

It may look like a toy commando truck from the G.I. Joe cartoons, but the Pentagon is serious about developing a flying Humvee.

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, has handed out about $9 million in contracts to develop the vehicle. The agency envisions it being capable to carry out a wide range of missions including raining down ammunition on enemies and shuttling wounded soldiers off the battlefield.

The program, dubbed Transformer, “seeks to combine the advantages of ground vehicles and helicopters into a single vehicle equipped with flexibility of movement,” the Pentagon said.

Artist’s mock-ups of the vehicle look like Marty McFly’s DeLorean on steroids. The Transformer will have folding wings that will pop out the sides and a rotor blade that churns on the roof. Also, it will be robotic, meaning there will be no pilot or driver behind the wheel.

DARPA said the Humvee should be able to haul around 1,000 pounds while traveling a distance of 287  miles at a time –- without refueling. This means the Humvee will have to go against its gas-guzzling image and burn through fuel efficiently, said Scott Claflin, director of Power Innovations, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne.

His company landed a $1-million contract to design a high-powered, lightweight engine for the Transformer. Claflin and a team of about a dozen engineers will help develop the engine at Pratt & Whitney’s facility in Canoga Park.

“We’re excited to work on the program,” Claflin said. “There has never been an engine built like this before.” DARPA has selected six companies to work on the Transformer program in its 12-month development phase. For now, AAI Corp. and Lockheed Martin Corp., the nation’s largest defense firm, are listed as program’s prime contractors.

DARPA will sit down with all the companies for the first time on Thursday, Claflin said.

-- W.J. Hennigan

Photos: An illustration of the Transformer vehicle. Credit: AAI Corp.