Air Force's Experimental Hypersonic Aircraft Disappears Again

Originally posted by fatdad
putting a gps tracker on the next one might help them find it if it crashs...

It didn't crash. It disappeared.
Big difference.

reply to post by Ilyich


So if it was going slow enough it would actually be invisible to radar? I thought that radar could detect just about anything but I don't know much about it.

Would it even be possible to intercept something like this going Mach 20? With a big enough explosion it sounds like it would be hard to even prove the US fired if the thing is undetectable.

Originally posted by Domo1
reply to post by Ilyich

 

So if it was going slow enough it would actually be invisible to radar? I thought that radar could detect just about anything but I don't know much about it.

Would it even be possible to intercept something like this going Mach 20? With a big enough explosion it sounds like it would be hard to even prove the US fired if the thing is undetectable.

I'm not entirely positive on how Radar works, I was simply trying to offer my opinion to the post about the sonic bow. I'm aware some aircraft and missiles can be constructed in a manner that makes them harder to detect with radar. I would also think If the DARPA is outside of our atmosphere it would be extremely hard to detect especially at a speed like mach 20. How ever when this object re-enters our atmosphere I would imagine it would most likely be detected. I would think that DARPA may be thought of as a meteor rather than a missile. As other posters have mentioned it would leave no trail of rocket exhaust, it would not produce heat or exhaust signatures associated with ICBMs or other Missiles/rockets/jets Either. These are all my speculations keep in mind, I am not nor do I claim to have extensive knowledge in how this weapon system works or is intended to work. As well, I am not an Aerospace scientist so I only have knowledge about things I've researched or learned about on my own time.

Originally posted by Violater1

Originally posted by fatdad
putting a gps tracker on the next one might help them find it if it crashs...

It didn't crash. It disappeared.
Big difference.

Indeed. So what's the concensus, ET/UFO involvement?

I'm pretty sure Mach 20 is more than 88 miles per hour. Depending on whether or not it had a flux capacitor could shed a lot of light on the situation.

In all seriousness, I find the fact that it 'disappeared' to be quite intriguing. This is easily the one of the fastest things (that we know of) that we have created. If it was to self destruct upon error, there would be SOME trace of it. Would a self destruct at such a high velocity even thoroughly destroy all traces of it? No way, I say.

I can't even speculate as to what happened to it.. Though, I do like the idea that was poised where perhaps it was going somewhere other than where we were lead to believe. We were simply told it was destroyed, or was lost, when in fact it may have just stayed in space on a course for X.... who knows.

Cheers

reply to post by PhoenixOD

Im not sure i understand..whats the point of a craft like this in the first place?

The point of the Falcon glide vehicle is to provide enhanced manuverability for the purpose of bypassing anti-ballistic missile systems with Nuclear payloads.





en.wikipedia.org...

It's all a part of the arms race..... When you make a bigger hammer, you need thicker armour, which necessitates bigger hammers, and then thicker armours, etcetera, etcetera....

Missile defence systems are actually coming quite a long way towards being completely effective.... which is good for defending against ICBM's, but that also means that OUR ICBM's are less effective.

So, they are trying to add hypersonic velocities, and basic manoeuvring capabilities to the warhead, so that it's harder to intercept, thus, increasing it's capabilities for target "Neutralization"

reply to post by Qemyst


I think the only thing faster I have heard of is the Shuttle on reentry. I believe I just read it goes about Mach 23. I can't even begin to imagine how fast that is. I don't even like driving over 90 usually

Going to assume the device used to track it broke upon reaching mach 20, and it overshot its target.

Probably somewhere in space now.

I ponder if this was the "missile" that was picked up by a TV-station helicopter in Los Angeles a while back. The Pentagon said "we dunno what that thing was." Then they came out a few days later and claimed it was an airplane contrail coming towards Los Angeles, not moving away from the city.

Looking at the trajectory of the rocket used to launch the HTV it seems quite possible as both shoot out over the Pacific from an air-force base in Southern Cali.
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/5a7beb4ce82f.jpg[/atsimg]



The HTV "disappearing" also reminds me of the X-37b occurence.
(‘Secret’ X-37B Space Plane Disappears Again)
www.universetoday.com...

Sound familiar?

reply to post by tooo many pills


Nice thanks for posting that info. Seems it could be a likely culprit.

They didn't lose it.

It just went so fast it punched a hole into an alternate reality. It's right where it's supposed to be On the Other Side.

Originally posted by Ilyich

Originally posted by Domo1
reply to post by Ilyich

 

So if it was going slow enough it would actually be invisible to radar? I thought that radar could detect just about anything but I don't know much about it.

Would it even be possible to intercept something like this going Mach 20? With a big enough explosion it sounds like it would be hard to even prove the US fired if the thing is undetectable.

I'm not entirely positive on how Radar works, I was simply trying to offer my opinion to the post about the sonic bow. I'm aware some aircraft and missiles can be constructed in a manner that makes them harder to detect with radar. I would also think If the DARPA is outside of our atmosphere it would be extremely hard to detect especially at a speed like mach 20. How ever when this object re-enters our atmosphere I would imagine it would most likely be detected. I would think that DARPA may be thought of as a meteor rather than a missile. As other posters have mentioned it would leave no trail of rocket exhaust, it would not produce heat or exhaust signatures associated with ICBMs or other Missiles/rockets/jets Either. These are all my speculations keep in mind, I am not nor do I claim to have extensive knowledge in how this weapon system works or is intended to work. As well, I am not an Aerospace scientist so I only have knowledge about things I've researched or learned about on my own time.

You refer to the vehicle as "The DARPA". DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), is what created the HTV-2, which is now "lost"

I have a hard time believing that a government agency would lose TWO prototype hypersonic weapons within a two and a half year span. Wouldn't you think that they would've learned from mistakes made on April 22, 2010? I understand that not everything can go perfect, and it IS rocket science, but even after reading the wikipedia information (not the greatest resource tool, I know), even the specifics to the mission don't add up.

The first flight, HTV-2a, took place in April 2010. The flight ended prematurely after nine minutes.
A second test flight, HTV-2b, was made on 11 August 2011. The HTV was boosted by a Minotaur IV Lite rocket launched from Space Launch Complex 8 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, north-west of Santa Barbara. After launch, the Falcon separated from the rocket, but contact was soon lost.[5] The flight plan called for the craft to separate from the launch vehicle, level out, and glide above the Pacific at 20 times the speed of sound (Mach 20).[2][3] The flight was meant to have lasted 30 minutes, after which the aircraft would have crashed into the ocean near Kwajalein Atoll, about 6400 km from Vandenberg.[3] The total distance from lift-off to impact would have been about 7600 km (4,100 nautical miles).[4]

This thing was going to glide above the Pacific at 20 times the speed of sound? For 30 minutes? At what altitude? This just doesn't make any sense. You would think chances would be good that in a 30 minute flight plan going mach 20 that you could potentially run into an airliner (depending on altitude of course).

They didn't lose these crafts. And they didn't crash either. They are still up there somewhere awaiting the command to execute their mission. Whatever that may be.

Originally posted by tooo many pills
I ponder if this was the "missile" that was picked up by a TV-station helicopter in Los Angeles a while back. The Pentagon said "we dunno what that thing was." Then they came out a few days later and claimed it was an airplane contrail coming towards Los Angeles, not moving away from the city.
Looking at the trajectory of the rocket used to launch the HTV it seems quite possible as both shoot out over the Pacific from an air-force base in Southern Cali.
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/5a7beb4ce82f.jpg[/atsimg]
The HTV "disappearing" also reminds me of the X-37b occurence.
(‘Secret’ X-37B Space Plane Disappears Again)
www.universetoday.com...
Sound familiar?

edit on 11-8-2011 by tooo many pills because: (no reason given)

I'm just curious, why do you claim to have earned the Gold Content Contributor...yet have less than 1000 flags????
Isn't that not telling the truth??? Is that not Misrepresenting yourself???

When this baby hits 88,000 miles per hour, you're gonna see some serious sh.t!

It probably uses the same technology that the B2 uses except I'm sure its more advanced now. It is very similar to the theory used in the Philadelphia experiment (should you choose to believe in it) they probably amped up the kilovolts to ridiculous levels and the damn thing opened up a hole in the fabric of space/time and freakin A disappeared.