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The latest unmanned Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-2 -- a test rocket designed to fly at Mach 20, or around 13,000 miles per hour -- successfully launched at approximately 7:45 a.m. PDT Thursday and separated properly from the Minotaur IV rocket that carried it to the edge of space. But after 2,700 seconds of flight, the agency lost contact with the vehicle, which presumably sank in the blue waters of the Pacific Ocean.
The latest project to be announced under the Falcon banner was a fighter-sized unmanned aircraft called "Blackswift" which would take off from a runway and accelerate to Mach 6 before completing its mission and landing again. The memo of understanding between DARPA and the USAF on Blackswift — also known as the HTV-3X — was signed in September 2007. The Blackswift HTV-3X did not receive needed funding and was canceled in October 2008.[2] Current research under FALCON program is centered around X-41 Common Aero Vehicle (CAV), a common aerial platform for hypersonic ICBMs and cruise missiles, as well as civilian RLVs and ELVs. The prototype Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV-2) first flew on 22 April 2010; the second test flew 11 August 2011. Both flights ended prematurely.
Originally posted by tooo many pills
reply to post by eXia7
I don't know for sure, but I think Aurora was just the code name for FASSSTTT! We had a couple companies developing hypersonic (aurora) planes, maybe the Falcon HTV was the one that made it the furthest in development.
Here is another thread on the Falcon HTV
www.abovetopsecret.com...
Originally posted by LanternOfDiogenes
Here is an article from 1993 that should interest you
books.google.com... LI_01O&sig=_3SYXiFifoZFvP7x3-v82GmPGzE&hl=en&ei=oJdETrazAa3YiAKa9YHkAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&sqi=2&ved=0CDYQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q&f=fals e
I remember even older PopSci's that had the conceptual designs for aurora, My uncle worked for the long deceased Lockheed and Martin-Marrieta companies as an engineer, he had given me company pamphlets of Hemisphere skimming a passenger aircraft with much the same body design, although those have long since disappeared. Anyway this design concept has been kicked about for decades, seems tech and material finally caught up with one artists concept!
Originally posted by misfitofscience
Not the same at all!
The HTV was also mishandled for the second time today, we're just not up to code om such a speed yet.
Originally posted by Nastradamus
They've been using this technology since the cold war era... nothing new here.
Originally posted by WeRpeons
Here's the question I have, how did they gain the technology to engineer an aircraft that can travel 4 times the speed of the black bird? Not only that, the tremendous amount of g-forces at that speed would kill the pilot! Unless it's a drone craft, a human could not withstand that amount of force unless they developed a substance or enclosure that would protect the pilot. The friction heat alone would cause the "metal" of the plane to either melt or ignite in a ball of fire!
Every time I hear about these new technologies being tested by our government, I always have flash backs to UFO case studies I've researched. I recall an abduction case where a lady remembered part of her abduction experience on board a UFO. She explained that she was submerged in a substance that was thicker than water. When she started panicking (thinking she was going to drown), the "grey" told her to calm down because she would be able to breath in this substance. Telepathically he told her they had to do this to counter the gravitational forces that would come to bare on her.
It may be a stretch, but you really have to wonder about some of the technologies being researched that have the same similarities as UFO technology that have been witnessed by abductees, military personal and pilots.
I can understand improving technology over time based upon trial and error, but improving technology by leaps and bounds in such a short time period? I give human engineering credit, but in anything that has been invented in the past, the design process for technology like this just doesn't go from brainstorming to extremely high tech prototypes in just a few years. There has to be gradual steps, trial and error periods that can improve upon existing technology.
How similar are these technologies? Check out my thread on the subject.
www.abovetopsecret.com...
Originally posted by Nastradamus
reply to post by WeRpeons
It was a droned craft... clearly. Or that's what they would want people to believe... and that it self destructed and spiraled wickedly into the ocean. There's no way that thing would survive impact at those speeds. That thing is in a million pieces if it lost control/contact.
As for achieving those speeds... it's actually a lot more simpler when you break it down to everyday life things... every try chucking a football while stantioned still? try running into it... with good timing and speed you can launch the ball tremendously farther than if you were to just stand still and throw it... Ever wonder how people could jump from car to car during high speed chases? You would think that when you're in the air... by the time you reach the bottom of the arch of your jump that the cars would be down the freeway/road etc. But that's not the case because the momentum and thus movement/trajectory is transfered into the person moving... the football being thrown... the triangle cutting through the sky.
As for the heat issue, there are coatings which boat absorb and distribute or flat out deflect the heat... usually following the lines and curves of the plane so excess heat is "guided" through the tips and into radiating out of off the craft. Also... heat is a result of friction. Who's to say that these new stealth super sonic fighters don't have technologies which mess around with the electric frequencies,,, positively or negatively effecting atom and particles around the vehicle causing an "atmospherless" enviornment around the craft. The air is still being displaced... but it would NEVER come in contact with the craft theoretically so friction would not proceed.
Just batting around a few ideas... hope you have your salt shakers in hand.