The U.S. military plans to conduct a test launch of a large rocket-powered aircraft capable of flying at speeds 20 times the speed of sound in three years, officials have stated.
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According to Space.com, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) plans to develop and test a hypersonic aircraft named X-Plane, capable of reaching Mach 20, by 2016. Its flight speed will reach up to 20,900 km/h, allowing the U.S. military to access any area on Earth in less than an hour.
Moreover, this aircraft will be recoverable, meaning the U.S. government will be able to call the aircraft back to its launch point, according to DARPA.
The X-plane can reach speeds of Mach 20.
To implement this ambitious project, DARPA has launched a new program called Integrated Hypersonics (IH). IH will explore how to apply previous defense research to the X-Plane.
“Currently, we do not have a complete hypersonic system solution,” a DARPA representative explained. Programs like IH will help leverage previous investments while minimizing risks for the projects.
The IH program will primarily focus on five areas: thermal protection, aerodynamics, guidance, navigation, and control (GNC), range/weapons systems, and propulsion.
Among these, thermal protection systems are a key requirement for hypersonic flights. Aircraft gliding through the atmosphere at Mach 20 will experience temperatures reaching 1927 degrees Celsius, hot enough to melt stainless steel.
Additionally, advanced aerodynamic and GNC technologies will allow the X-plane to make real-time adjustments to respond to any changes in flight conditions. The type of propulsion system used by the X-plane will not simply be existing rockets designed for space missions. Instead, DARPA is researching an entirely new integrated propulsion system.
DARPA has conducted several tests of hypersonic aircraft in recent years. For instance, the agency has flown two prototype HTV-2 aircraft in the past two years. In the most recent test in August 2011, the HTV-2 reached Mach 20 but only sustained that speed in the atmosphere for 9 minutes.
