Image credit: PA
A model of an electric plane by EADS on display at the Paris Air Show

In the meantime, why not try and find out what flying could be like in the next few decades?

[See also: Unlikely product to be used at plane fuel]

Other manufacturers have, in the past few months, unveiled their own plans of new designs, giving us an idea of what aircraft, cabins and seats could look like in the future. Let’s take a look at some of the projects…

Airbus’ new Concept Cabin

Last week, Airbus revealed its own design for a futuristic plane. What’s new with this one? First of all, it features a see-through cabin allowing people to enjoy great views while on a flight. Also, in case passengers get bored, they will be able to use services on the aircraft including virtual golf in the “interactive zone”. One thing we should mention though – it looks like we will also have to wait about 40 years to book our ticket on this new plane!

Image credit: Airbus S.A.S.
X-ray of the Concept Cabin (artist’s impression)

Image credit: Airbus S.A.S.
Airbus’ transparent cabin

Find out more

Futuristic plane seats

Last April, games fans were pleased to discover designs for new airline seats strangely called “NFW” (i.e. Not For Wimps). The round-shaped seats, which feature a screen and are to be used as a gaming station, also allow passengers to use their own devices. Created by Contour Aerospace Ltd and Factorydesign, the seats were unveiled at Germany’s Aircraft Interiors Expo.

Image credit: CMS Strategic
Sit back and relax… or play games

See more pics

NASA’s planes of the future

Earlier this year, NASA released images of three concepts for planes that could potentially be seen flying in 2025. The designs were developed by three different teams – Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and The Boeing Company – who were asked to further investigate their projects during the course of the year. Take a look at the three projects the teams are working on:

Image credit: NASA/Lockheed Martin
The model designed by American defence firm Lockheed Martin looks rather similar to existing passenger planes.

Image credit: NASA/Northrop Grumman
US defence company Northrop Grumman has opted for a three-part aircraft – a rather unusual design for a plane.

Image credit: NASA/The Boeing Company
Boeing’s proposal of a blended-wing design recalls already existing models previously launched by the company.

A test flight of an experimental aircraft capable of speeding through air at 20 times the speed of sound ended prematurely Thursday morning when the arrowhead-shaped plane failed and stopped sending back real-time data to engineers and scientists who were moderating the mission. In the test flight, the aircraft, known as the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2, was launched at 7:45 a.m. from Vandenberg Air Force Base, located northwest of Santa Barbara, into the upper reaches of  Earth’s  atmosphere aboard an eight-story Minotaur IV rocket, made by Orbital Sciences Corp. The plan was for the Falcon to speed westward for 30 minutes before plunging into the ocean near Kwajalein Atoll, about 4,000 miles from Vandenberg. But about 20 minutes into the mission, the Pentagon’s research arm, known as Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, announced on its Twitter account that: “Range assets have lost telemetry.” It sounds eerily similar to the problems that plagued the Falcon’s first flight, which took place in April 2010. That test flight ended prematurely with only nine minutes of flight time. Engineers went back to the drawing board and were believed to have had things ironed out.

Continue reading HERE.

The agency says in Twitter postings that its unmanned Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-2 was launched Thursday atop a rocket, successfully separated from the booster and entered the mission’s glide phase.

The agency says telemetry was subsequently lost, but released no details..

Read full article

View the Original article

DARPA issues statement on failed flight of hypersonic aircraft

The Falcon launched at 7:45 a.m. from Vandenberg Air Force Base, northwest of Santa Barbara, into the upper reaches of Earth’s atmosphere aboard an eight-story Minotaur IV rocket, made by Orbital Sciences Corp.

After reaching an undisclosed sub-orbital altitude, the aircraft jettisoned from its protective cover atop the rocket, then nose-dived back toward Earth, leveled out and began to glide above the Pacific at 20 times the speed of sound, or Mach 20.

Then the trouble began.

“Here’s what we know,” said Air Force Maj. Chris Schulz, DARPA’s program manager. “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. It’s vexing; I’m confident there is a solution. We have to find it.”

See also:
Pentagon’s hypersonic flight test cut short by anomaly
Pentagon’s Mach 20 Missile Lost Over Pacific — Again
DARPA drops another HTV-2
Second Flop: DARPA Loses Contact With HTV-2
DARPA Launches and Loses Hypersonic Aircraft: Update
The Air Force Loses a Second Superfast Spaceplane
Falcon HTV-2 is lost during bid to become fastest ever plane
Falcon hypersonic vehicle test flight fails
Review Board Sets Up to Probe HTV-2 L
DARPA loses contact with hypersonic aircraft
Lost at sea. Military loses contact with hypersonic test plane
Misdirection, Always Watch What The Left Hand Is Doing

So, in order to find out what went wrong, the Air Force needs to find this tiny HTV-2 drone, that they lost contact with, somewhere in the vast Pacific ocean. Good luck with that, they never lost the first one the dunked.

/why do I get the feeling there’s not going to be a third time?

The Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-2 is an unmanned, rocket-launched aircraft that is capable of traveling at 20 times the speed of sound. It moves at around 13,000 miles per hour, and could get from New York to Los Angeles in only 12 minutes flat.

That, of course, is once DARPA gets the kinks worked out.

Today’s flight originally went off without a hitch, but 37 minutes into its voyage, officials tweeted that they had lost contact with the Falcon. DARPA later added that “downrage assets did not reacquire tracking or telemetry” and suggested that the aircraft might engage its “autonomous flight termination” capability. Before long, however, the agency added that the craft was back on track and set to plunge into the ocean.

The US military began work on the Falcon back in 2003 in hopes of creating an aircraft that could be anywhere internationally within an hour. Of course, why the military would need to be anywhere, in the sky, that quickly, could be considered catastrophic for all of mankind, but a completed Falcon free of glitches and bugs won’t be ready any time soon. Meanwhile, the US military has dubbed that ability to be anywhere, anytime a “Conventional Prompt Global Strike,” or CPGS.

So far over $300 million has gone into the aircraft, which is expected to be ready for production in 2025.

Last year DARPA put the Falcon in the air for the first time, but what many speculate to be a temperature problem caused the craft to not fly as planned. After 139 seconds at nearly 17,000 miles an hour, the plane’s safety mechanism signaled it to swoop into the ocean.

The Pentagon is working alongside DARPA in the development of the Falcon, eager to create an aircraft that can strike enemy targets quicker than modern missiles.

An unmanned hypersonic glider developed for US defense research into super-fast global strike capability was launched atop a rocket early today, but contact was lost after the experimental craft began flying on its own, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency said. There was no immediate information on how much of the mission’s goals were achieved, but DARPA promises updates on its Twitter feed. It was the second of two planned flights of a Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-2. Contact was also lost during the first mission.

The HTV-2 is intended to put theory, simulations, and wind tunnel experience to the test in real flight conditions at speeds producing temperatures in the thousands of degrees and requiring extremely fast control systems, according to DARPA. The first HTV-2 was launched on April 22, 2010. It returned nine minutes of data, including 139 seconds of aerodynamic data at speeds between 17 and 22 times the speed of sound

*Taken from LA Times.

A test flight of an experimental aircraft capable of speeding through air at 20 times the speed of sound ended prematurely Thursday morning when the arrowhead-shaped plane failed and stopped sending back real-time data to engineers and scientists who were moderating the mission.

In the test flight, the aircraft, known as the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2, was launched at 7:45 a.m. from Vandenberg Air Force Base, located northwest of Santa Barbara, into the upper reaches of  Earth’s atmosphere aboard an eight-story Minotaur IV rocket, made by Orbital Sciences Corp.

After reaching an undisclosed sub-orbital altitude, the aircraft jettisoned from its protective cover atop the rocket, then nose-dived back toward Earth, leveled out and was supposed to glide above the Pacific at 20 times the speed of sound, or Mach 20.

CONTINUED..

The Pentagon’s poorly named Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA – NOT DERPA, despite the terrible moniker) scrubbed another launch today for the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle (HTV-2) due to weather conditions (same as yesterday’s cancellation), but hopes to get the vehicle in theair edge of the atmosphere tomorrow. WTF is a HTV-2? An unmanned jet-glidercapable of pushing 13,000MPH and covering New York to LA in 12 minutes. Holy shi-shi.

Why all the fuss over the hypersonic aircraft? For starters, it’s part of the Pentagon’s interest in the concept of “prompt global strike” – the ability to reach out and touch targets on the other side of the globe, almost instantly, without going nuclear.

It’s a controversial subject in the arms-control world, but still a long way from reality. During the hypersonic vehicle’s flight last year, researchers lost contact with the HTV-2 just minutes after launch. Today’s flight, if successful, will focus on improving the understanding of hypersonic flight, and maintaining communication with – and control over – a craft that is hurtling along at 3.6 miles per second.

CONTINUED..

The Falcon HTV-2 is an arrow-shaped aircraft that launches in a rocket, separates and then glides at hypersonic speeds of 13,000 mph through the Earth’s atmosphere.

The Air Force has postponed the launch of an unmanned aircraft that can travel at the breakneck speed of 20 times the speed of sound

The Falcon HTV-2 was scheduled to take off Wednesday from an Air Force base in California for its second test flight. But pockets of lightning over the launch zone has led officials at Vandenberg Air Force Base in Lompoc, Calif., to reschedule the launch for Thursday.

Boeing’s X-51A WaveRider — a jet-fueled, air-breathing hypersonic rocket — is one step closer to reality.

The Falcon HTV-2 is an arrow-shaped aircraft that launches on a rocket, separates and then glides at hypersonic speeds of 13,000 mph through the Earth’s atmosphere. (To put it in perspective, it would take less than 12 minutes to fly from New York to Los Angeles.)

Thursday’s launch marks the aircraft’s second flight. In April 2010, the Falcon flew for nine minutes, including 130 seconds of Mach 22 to Mach 17 flight, according to DARPA, the military’s research arm.

The goal of the second flight is to “validate our assumptions and gain further insight into extremely high Mach regimes that we cannot fully replicate on the ground,” Air Force Maj. Chris Schulz said in a DARPA news release.

Since the first launch in April, engineers have made several tweaks to the vehicle to improve its performance. They have adjusted the vehicle’s center of gravity, decreased the angle of attack flown and will use the onboard reaction control system to augment the vehicle flaps to maintain stability during flight operations, DARPA said.

The flight overview looks something like a rocket launch. The aircraft takes off in a rocket and eventually breaks free. It re-enters the Earth’s upper atmosphere before evening out, like a jet in flight.

After a brief flight, the aircraft takes a nose dive into the sea near Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. In all, the Falcon HTV-2 will have flown 4,000 miles from its original take off at Vandenberg Air Force Base.

“The first flight of HTV-2 allowed DARPA to greatly increase our understanding of the hypersonic environments encountered by the vehicle,” said Col. Kent Nickle, Chief of SMC/SD’s Launch Systems Division and HTV-2 Flight 2 Mission Director, in a statement.

“The entire team is looking forward to yet another successful flight demonstration for our DARPA partners.” The launch window on Thursday stretches from 7 a.m. PST to 1 p.m. PST, an Air Force spokesman said.

The goal of the project is to eventually enable the U.S. military to strike anywhere in the world in less than an hour.

Ground crew members make the final checks to the X-51A Waverider scramjet, which is affixed to an Edwards B-52H Stratofortress, before the Waverider's June 13 flight test.

Air Force engineers are scratching their ends after a test flight of an experimental hypersonic X-plane ended last month prematurely when the vehicle failed to reach full power.

A rocket successfully boosted the hypersonic X-51A Waverider vehicle to just over five times the speed of sound (Mach 5) on June 13. The experimental craft’s air-breathing scramjet engine then lit briefly on ethylene but failed to transition to its primary JP7 fuel, Air Force officials said.

The X-51A attempted to restart but was unsuccessful. It continued in a controlled flight orientation, eventually splashing down in the Pacific Ocean in the Point Mugu Naval Air Test Range off the California coast.

“Obviously we’re disappointed and expected better results, but we are very pleased with the data collected on this flight,” said Charlie Brink, the Air Force Research Laboratory’s X-51A program manager, in a statement. [Most Destructuve Space Weapon Concepts]

The test — which began when a B-52 Stratofortress mothership dropped the X-51A from an altitude of about 50,000 feet (15,240 meters) — was the experimental vehicle’s second free-flying flight. The first occurred in May 2010, and it was more successful, with the X-51A’s scramjet engine operating for more than two minutes.

Boeing and Pratt-Whitney Rocketdyne developed and built the X-51A, an effort to demonstrate a viable hypersonic flight concept. Hypersonic flight is generally defined as anything reaching speeds above Mach 5 (3,805 mph, or 6,124 kph, at sea level).

Engineers at the two companies, as well as the Air Force Research Lab, are reviewing the test flight’s telemetry data in an attempt to identify what went wrong this time, officials said.

“We will continue to examine the data to learn even more about this new technology,” Brink said. “Every time we test this new and exciting technology, we get that much closer to success.”

The next test flight for the X-51A is tentatively slated for sometime this fall, Air Force officials said.

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Since the Concorde last flew about eight years ago, the commercial aviation market has stayed subsonic. While it might be nice to fly in the luxury of the A380, it saddens me that there’s no longer a choice if you want to fly supersonic.

EADS, the parent company of Airbus, introduced the ZEHST concept. The idea is that it will be able to fly at Mach 4 with over 100 passengers at over 100,000 feet and make the journey from New York to Tokyo in only 2.5 hours.

There’s no question that the ambition is an impressive one. But will it ever fly? From what I’ve read, EADS claims it could have a working model by 2020 and be in the market by 2050. I wish we could go back to the heady days of Apollo and Concorde when we decided to just do something great. The science and engineering are there so to quote Nike “Just do it!”

So I was over at my favorite web site Space.com this morning and saw that NASA has recovered some missing Moon dust that was scheduled to be auctioned last month.

As the article states, the United States government classifies lunar samples as national treasures and well it should. Aside from the fact that these objects are from another world, they were brought back to this one by man for all of mankind to study and learn from. I for one believe it should be illegal for anyone to try to sell lunar objects.

Finally, for those of you that don’t subscribe to my email newsletter or missed it on Facebook or Twitter, last month yours truly was cast in a short science fiction film called Approved by Durjaya. The film “centers around a dystopian society in which there are strict rules enforced by a higher authority and each citizen is assigned to a group that determines their job and subsequently their life.“ I play one of the two protagonists. The film is scheduled for release in December.

In closing, I’m also running a promotion for First World: Covenant. For those of you that purchased the ebook, I am offering a FREE autographed cover of Covenant that would be suitable for framing. Details can be found in my latest email newsletter.

Firstly, BrahMos Aerospace is a joint venture between India’s Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO, equivalent to the US’ DARPA) and NPO Mashinostroyenia (NPOM) of Russia. Brahmos is derived from the names of two rivers, the Brahmaputra of India and the Moskva river of Russia. Brahmos Aerospace produces the Brahmos missile used by India’s armed forces. The Brahmos missile uses a supersonic, rocket-ramjet hybrid motor, achieving a top speed of about Mach 3.0 and a range of 290 km (180 miles). The missile weighs about 3 tons (300 kg/660 lbs warhead) and is 8.4 m (28 ft) long. It is the world’s fastest cruise missile. The US’ Tomahawk is subsonic, cruising at 880 kph (550 mph).
The Brahmos missile is very similar to the cancelled Talos missile of the US Navy. The Talos was 11.6 m (38 ft) long, weighed 3500 kg (7800 lbs), with a warhead capability of 136 kg (300 lbs) and had a range of 185 km (115 miles) at a cruising speed of Mach 2.5.

Both the Brahmos and the Talos use rocket-boosted ramjet motors.

Brahmos Aerospace has announced plans for the Brahmos-2,a hypersonic cruise missile. The deal to start the development of Brahmis 2 was signed during the visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedyev to India in December 2010, according to this Chinese news article.

The Brahmos-2 will have a scramjet engine in place of the ramjet engine on the Brahmos-1, according to their website.

I definitely agree that this is a reliable method, to go hypersonic in 2 steps, using the tried and tested rocket motor to go from Mach 0 to the scramjet lighting speed. The rocket motor must be kept on long enough to allow the scramjet to light, which is the tricky part. Once lighted, the rocket can be cut off.

Those familiar with scramjet development might remember the HySHOT and HiFire experiments conducted at the Woomera test range in central Australia, a joint hypersonic experimental study between US’ DARPA and Australia’s DSTO. See a news article on the HiFire experiments here. The methodology adopted in the HySHOT/HiFire experiments was to place a scramjet module at the nose of a sounding rocket which was then launched up on a parabolic trajectory. The scramjet would then be lighted on the downward journey when the appropriate inlet-starting Mach number was attained. In one or more tests, the HiFire scramjet was reported to have reached up to Mach 7.6.

A second test of the X-51A Waverider flew June 13, 2011, in the Point Mugu Naval Air Test Range over the Pacific Ocean, bringing significant hypersonic research data in a less than successful flight test. The hypersonic aircraft was successfully boosted to just over Mach 5, and the scramjet engine lit but failed to transition to full power. Air Force Flight Test Center officials said after a flawless flight from Edwards Air Force Base, a U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortress released the experimental vehicle from an altitude of approximately 50,000 feet. After release the X-51A was initially accelerated by a solid rocket booster to a speed just over Mach 5.

The problem with scramjets has always been this critical step of transitioning to scramjet mode and initiating liquid fuel combustion.

The experimental aircraft’s air breathing scramjet engine lit on ethylene and attempted to transition to JP7 fuel operation when the vehicle experienced an inlet un-start.

The USAF’s Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) is supported in the X-51A program by Boeing and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne. Although the test ended in failure, there is still a lot of data that requires analysis, which may bring valuable insights. The next test is scheduled for Fall 2011.

Perhaps they will publish the results of the data analysis or release more information which will help uncover what caused the inlet to unstart.

Ishchenko makes these additional points:

• The long-range missile for the S-400 is still in testing.
• He doubts the S-500 will be delivered in 2015.
• His interviewee believes the new Aerospace Defense Troops will get all or some of Russia’s SAM force from the VVS.
• The interviewee thinks the S-500 is on schedule.

Ishchenko says the debate over the lead for VKO didn’t necessarily center on what’s best to protect Russia’s security, but rather on who would receive new resources and general officer billets.

The Air Forces argued they were best suited to lead it, but the Space Troops apparently argued persuasively that they were better prepared to handle Russia’s future transatmospheric threats.

Now, a quick editorial aside from Ishchenko’s narrative . . . this decision is probably a good thing for the Air Forces, which already have their hands full and don’t need more missions.  They stand to lose only some part of the surface-to-air missile business (which hasn’t always been a core mission for them anyway).  And the VVS will benefit by concentrating on their most important tasks.

But back to Ishchenko . . . he provides a fine review of the USSR’s space weapons and space defense efforts, which, arguably, met or exceeded those of the United States.  He notes President Yeltsin’s 1993 decree on creating VKO, for which no one moved so much as a finger, at least partially because of the country’s economic and budgetary predicament at that time. 

Then Ishchenko gets more interesting.  He details the danger posed to Russia by U.S. “noncontact” wars in Iraq (sic), Yugoslavia, and Libya.  These, however, are really wars of the past rather than the future, he says.  Ishchenko moves on to the threat of Prompt Global Strike.

He talks about a hypersonic bomber cruising at Mach 5-7 speeds and altitudes up to 30,000 meters, beyond the reach of Russia’s current SAMs.  Of course, IOC isn’t before 2025, but Moscow needs to start thinking today about how to counter it.  Meanwhile, the state-of-the-art Russian SAM, the S-400, is barely fielded and its extended range missile is still being tested.  Its successor, the S-500, is supposed to be ready in 2015, but Ishchenko is skeptical.

The end of Ishchenko’s article is a brief interview with the chief editor of the journal Vozdushno-kosmicheskaya oborona, Mikhail Khodarenok.  Khodarenok’s a retired colonel, professional air defender, graduate of the General Staff Academy, and former staffer of the General Staff’s Main Operations Directorate (GOU).  In the late 1990s and early 2000s, he was an outstanding military journalist for Nezavisimoye voyennoye obozreniye, but by 2003 or 2004, he left for VKO and Voyenno-promyshlennyy kuryer, both wholly owned by air defense system designer Almaz-Antey.

Ishchenko asks what Khodarenok knows about the process of creating the Aerospace Defense Troops.  The latter hems about not having access to secret directives and documents before concluding:

“But I can say that much has already been determined.  In particular, it’s decided that Space Troops will be the basis of VKO.  Although there were other proposals.  The Air Forces, in particular, proposed taking their service as the basis.”

Asked about this tug-of-war for VKO within the Defense Ministry, he says:

“And this is a beloved Russian pasttime.  In our Armed Forces, they are constantly getting rid of something or resubordinating.  What happened, for example, with army aviation.  In my memory, five times it was given to the Air Forces, then returned to the Ground Troops.  Usually then five years of complete confusion.  Billions lost.  And it all begins again.”

Asked what will be in VKO:

“The basis is the Space Troops.  Evidently, the surface-to-air missile troops (ZRV) will be transferred to them from the VVS.  Fully or partially.  This isn’t determined yet.”

Finally, asked whether Almaz-Antey General Director Igor Ashurbeyli was replaced because of problems with the S-400′s long-range missile or issues in the S-500′s development, Khodarenok says:

“Ashurbeyli’s resignation was not connected with engineering problems in any way.  Neither with difficulties on the S-500, nor on the S-400.”

“I have my suppositions on this score.  But I don’t want to share them.  I repeat:  the most important thing is that the S-500′s development is on schedule.  And this system really will very much help the country’s aerospace defense.”

“It’s difficult to say when all this will be turned into metal.  But technically today I don’t see obstacles to this direction being realized this decade.”

Leonov also claimed that development of this missile is included in GPV 2011-2020.  He didn’t talk about the characteristics of the missile, but said the general trend is to increase its speed to hypersonic, not to increase its range.  It’s designed for anti-ship and land attack missions, and will be fired from various launch platforms.  

Leonov noted that today up to 80 percent of Russian Navy cruise missiles were developed by NPO Mashinostroyeniye.  It produced both the Granit (SS-N-19) and Bazalt (SS-N-12) ASCMs.

He didn’t mention that the hypersonic missile development’s being done as part of Russia’s BrahMos joint venture with India.  Some sources claim the BrahMos II cruise missile has surpassed Mach 5 in stand testing.

Pesawat ini berkapasitas enam orang. Pada perjalanan New York-Sidney, standard waktu tempuh perjalanan berkisar 21 jam. Tetapi dengan menggunakan pesawat ini, hanya ditempuh dalam waktu 2 jam 30 menit.

Pesawat tersebut adalah sebuah terobosan baru di dunia penerbangan. Pesawat tersebut menggunakan teknologi turbo Concorde generasi terbaru.

Proyek ini bertujuan untuk membuat pesawat yang digunakan untuk terbang ke Mars. Proyek NASA ini dinamakan X-43A.

Lembaga ruang angkasa akan mengalokasikan USD 5juta per tahunnya dalam kurun waktu tiga tahun ke depan. NASA menyadari banyak tantangan yang harus dihadapinya untuk membangun mesin tersebut.

“Kendaraan untuk ke luar angkasa harus ringan, dan mudah dipelihara dengan biaya rendah,” tertulis pada proposal NASA.

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