U.S. hypersonic experimental plane crashes in Pacific

[Brooklyn Red Leg]

Reuters Aug 11, 2011 – 2:16 PM ET | Last Updated: Aug 12, 2011 12:36 PM ET

By David Alexander

WASHINGTON —An unmanned experimental aircraft designed to fly at speeds of 20,900 kilometres per hour went out of control and crashed in the Pacific on Thursday in the second failed test of a military program to deliver a warhead anywhere on Earth in an hour.

The Falcon HTV-2 hypersonic glider was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 7:45 a.m. PT and successfully separated from a Minotaur IV rocket in the upper atmosphere several minutes later, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency said.

Initial information about the flight was first circulated on the Internet via Twitter. About 10 minutes after the flight began, DARPA tweeted that the mission was “on track, entering glide phase.”

But about 26 minutes later, the agency tweeted that its monitoring stations had lost contact with the glider.

Separation of the arrowhead-shaped aircraft from the rocket was confirmed by an on-board camera, and the glider began a descent aimed at reaching 20 times the speed of sound, the agency said in a statement later.

But nine minutes later an “anomaly” caused a loss of signal between the aircraft and monitoring stations. The plane evidently crashed into the Pacific along its planned flight path, the agency said.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/08/11/u-s-loses-contact-with-hypersonic-experimental-plane/

Well that was $320 million that was wasted.

 

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[Fuzzy]