6 ms·
Congratulations on a successful test flight. Aircraft that fly up to Mach 10 can still use radio communication. That wasn't the case with the Falcon Project's H
by peripetylabs 13y ago
Congratulations on a successful test flight. Aircraft that fly up to Mach 10 can still use radio communication. That wasn't the case with the Falcon Project's HTV-2. I guess the Air Force wants a GPS-guided hypersonic cruise missile.
- iandh 13y agoI'm not sure where you got this fact, but HTV-2 had two independent RF communication systems and flew close to Mach 20. I do agree with you that the Air Force wants hypersonic flight vehicles. Looks like air-breathing hypersonics are the priority.
- peripetylabs 13y agoPast Mach 10, a layer of plasma is formed on the leading surface of the aircraft, which RF cannot traverse. This is also why atmospheric reentry occurs in a blackout. There's a good explanation of the phenomenon here: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=piercing-the-plasma http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=piercing-th...