Falcon HTV-2 Launches In Less Than An Hour!
The Falcon HTV-2 started life in 2003 as a research project to see if the United States could design and build an aircraft that can reach any part of the world in under an hour. Today, that vision becomes one step closer to reality when the military tries to test the aircraft again. In April 2010 a test was conducted and the plane reached Mach 22 (16,700mph) for more than two minutes before the test had to be stopped. DARPA says that this will be the second and final test flight for this craft and they expect the craft to glide back from space at 13,000mph where the exterior of the plane will reach in excess of 3500 degrees Fahrenheit. If all goes as planned DARPA will perform a series of maneuvers to test aerodynamic performance and then crash land it into the ocean. The launch looks to be taking place at 9:45am CST.
At 3pm BST on Thursday , the US Defence Advance Research Projects Agency will launch the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 on the back of a rocket from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. If all goes to plan, engineers will launch the Falcon HTV-2 to the edge of space, before detaching the plane and guiding it on a hypersonic flight that will reach speeds of 13,000mph (about 20 times the speed of sound) on its return to Earth.
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