Added 1 new A* page:Thanks to a couple A* readers of yesterday's article for tipping me off on Facebook to the results of the second test flight of DARPA's Falcon HTV-2, their hypersonic suborbital aircraft that tried to hit Mach 20 in a test over the Pacific yesterday. Apparently the launch of the HTV-2 aboard a rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California went okay, and probably looked a good deal like last year's, which this YouTube video--not uploaded there by DARPA, mind you--purports to show:
video on Youtube
And I found the DARPA test flight profile footage I linked to in high-res form on their web site yesterday, in a nice streaming YouTube video on their official channel:
video on Youtube
That was how it was *supposed* to go, and they confirmed by camera mounted on the rocket, apparently, that separation of the craft took place, and their data says it shifted into its Mach 20 configuration, but then...they lost it, and it probably plunged into the ocean. This was after nine minutes of data recording, which probably not coincidentally is how long last year's test flight lasted before ending prematurely, too. Says Air Force Maj. Chris Schulz of the test: "We do not yet know how to achieve the desired control during the aerodynamic phase of flight."
But DARPA Director Regina Dugan says "We’ll try again." So, assuming their budget doesn't get cut or something, maybe we'll get these little Internet peeks at another Mach 20 test flight next year.
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