13,000 mph hypersonic glider

US hypersonic glider launched
Associated Press

glider has been launched from an air base on the central California coast.

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency used Twitter to announce the launch Thursday from Vandenberg Air Force Base 130 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

A rocket carried the agency's Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-2 to the edge of space, where it separated from the booster to maneuver through the atmosphere at 13,000 mph. Minutes into the flight, the agency said the mission was on track in its glide phase. The mission will end with a plunge into the ocean.

A similar vehicle was launched last year and returned nine minutes of data before contact was prematurely lost.

The U.S. military is trying to develop technology to respond to threats around the globe at speeds of Mach 20 or greater.

US hypersonic glider launched - Yahoo! News

Wow. That's incredible. I do question what help a glider can give half way around the world. If it was a C-130 then it would make sense. How big is said glider?

Also what does this have to do with the Bears? lol

.....and it got lost at sea.

VAFB is about 5 miles from here, the launch was awesome.

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Originally Posted by BlackDiamond

VAFB is about 5 miles from here, the launch was awesome.

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Lompoc?

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Originally Posted by GrizzlyBear91

Lompoc?

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Yessir. You can actually drive to the beach and see launches, too. The launch complexes are only a mile or two away, depending on which one they use.

Even though it was a smaller rocket, it made more noise than the last launch, which was much bigger.