The Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV-2) was launched aboard a rocket at 7:45 am Thursday, August 11 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Designed to reach any point on the planet in under an hour, the launch was the second test of the HTV-2 system. Following separation from a Minotaur IV rocket, the HTV-2 began flying at Mach 20. Shortly thereafter, contact was lost.
Air Force Maj. Chris Schulz, DARPA HTV-2 program manager said, “We know how to boost the aircraft to near space. We know how to insert the aircraft into atmospheric hypersonic flight. We do not yet know how to achieve the desired control during the aerodynamic phase of flight."
I imagine it is hard to track something moving about 17 times the speed of sound (by my calculations), but I would have expected that one of the first things they might have done was figure out how they were going to track it.
Ooooh! Second thought: wasn't there a James Bond film like this - Blofeld masterminding a scheme to kidnap satellites? Also, I wouldn't put it past Lex Luthor.
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