Mach 22!!

[rarelyathome]

From today's Grauniad:

By the time you finish reading this sentence, the Falcon HTV-2, the fastest plane ever built, could have flown 18 miles. It would get from London to Sydney in less than an hour, while withstanding temperatures of almost 2,000C, hotter than the melting point of steel.

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.


US military to launch fastest-ever plane | World news | The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/10/us-military-fastest-plane-falcon)

Wonder what the VRef is?!!

[hval]

@ rarelyathome

Wonder what the VRef is?!!

Probably similar to the Space shuttle I would imagine; so 220 MPH' ish

[roush]

Another first for the Unmanned arena :D

I wonder if the operators wear flying suits etc etc............

[Jane-DoH]

rarelyathome

Wonder what the VRef is?!!

Who knows, but I could imagine it would compare with other lifting body designs. Probably around 220-250 kts.

[ex-fast-jets]

Can they say "unmanned " these days??

Surely it should be "unpersonned"!!

[Nemrytter]

For the record the mission seems to be a failure, word is that the vehicle lost control during the glide.
Still, at least the X-37 is good at this stuff.

[davejb]

Huh,
so much for By the time you finish reading this sentence, the Falcon HTV-2, the fastest plane ever built, could have flown 18 miles.

At 13,000 mph it takes 1/722.2' of an hour to travel 18 miles, which is almost 5s, and I can read that sentence in WAY under 5s.

I want my money back.
Dave

Perhaps they could have a range of planes that travel different distances according to how quickly one reads? Just a thought...

[hoodie]

At 13,000 mph it takes 1/722.2' of an hour to travel 18 miles, which is almost 5s, and I can read that sentence in WAY under 5s.


It was in The Grauniad. They're allowing time for you to mentally decrypt the typos as you go.

[OmegaV6]

For the record the mission seems to be a failure, word is that the vehicle lost control during the glide.
Still, at least the X-37 is good at this stuff.

A tad unfair methinks ... :(

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (http://www.darpa.mil/NewsEvents/Releases/2011/2011/08/11DARPA_HYPERSONIC_VEHICLE_ADVANCES_TECHNICAL_KNOWLEDGE.aspx )

:)