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48-607: Current research under Falcon project is centered on the flight tests of boost-glide technological demonstrators HTV-1 and HTV-2 for the development of the X-41 Common Aero Vehicle (CAV) and HTV-3 for the Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle (HCV). The technological demonstrator Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV-2) first flew on 22 April 2010; the second test flew 11 August 2011 reaching Mach 20. Both flights ended prematurely. The HTV-3X Blackswift , derived from HTV-3,

96-538: A combination of turbine engine and ramjet , an all-in-one power plant. The turbine engine accelerates the vehicle to around Mach 3 before the ramjet takes over and boosts the vehicle up to Mach 6." Dr. Steven Walker, the Deputy Director of DARPA's Tactical Technology Office, will be coordinating the project. He told the USAF website, I will also be communicating to Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney on how important it

144-544: A first phase of work, then one or more vendors would be selected to build and fly an actual launch vehicle. Companies which won first phase development contracts of $ 350,000 to $ 540,000 in November 2003 included: The first phase of the Hypersonic Weapon System development was won by three bidders in 2003, each receiving a $ 1.2 to $ 1.5 million contract for hypersonic vehicle development: Lockheed Martin received

192-429: A high lift to drag ratio; automatic navigation control systems were among the initial technical challenges facing the designers. The various departments involved in designing the vehicle included aerothermodynamics, materials science, hypersonic navigation, guidance and control systems, endo- and exo -atmospheric flight dynamics, telemetry and range safety analysis. The craft could cover 17,000 kilometres (11,000 mi),

240-447: A higher heart rate, and adjusting its blood chemistry. It can take days or weeks to adapt to high altitude. However, above 8,000 metres (26,000 ft), (in the " death zone "), altitude acclimatization becomes impossible. There is a significantly lower overall mortality rate for permanent residents at higher altitudes. Additionally, there is a dose response relationship between increasing elevation and decreasing obesity prevalence in

288-441: A lift-to-drag ratio of 6-7 at Mach 10 and 130,000 ft (40,000m). HTV-2 was expected to demonstrate controllable flight at velocities of around Mach 20, i.e., a capability that can reach anywhere in the world in less than an hour. At that speed, the flight time between New York City and Los Angeles would be less than 12 minutes. Development of protection structures that are tough and lightweight; an aerodynamic shape that has

336-474: A part-USAF operation, and separate military launch facilities were built at Vandenberg AFB at great cost, though never used. After the open DynaSoar USAF program from 1957 to 1963, spaceplanes went black (became highly classified). In the mid-1960s, the CIA began work on a high-Mach spyplane called Project Isinglass . This developed into Rheinberry , a design for a Mach-17 air-launched reconnaissance aircraft, which

384-530: A payload of 12,000 lb (5,500 kg). It would fly at a high altitude and achieve speeds of up to Mach 9. The Blackswift was derived from the HTV-3 and proposed a technological demonstration of a reusable aircraft capable of hypersonic flight designed by the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works , Boeing , and ATK . The USAF stated that the "Blackswift flight demonstration vehicle will be powered by

432-574: A planned 30-minute mission. The HTV-2's first flight was launched on 22 April 2010. The HTV-2 glider was to fly 4,800 miles (7,700 km) across the Pacific to Kwajalein at Mach 20. The HTV-2 was boosted by a Minotaur IV Lite rocket launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base , California; the glider was carried inside the nose of the Minotaur IV Lite rocket into outer space with a launch altitude of 100 miles (160 km). The flight plan called for

480-638: Is an experimental hypersonic glide vehicle developed as part of the DARPA Falcon Project designed to fly in the Mach 20 range. It is a test bed for technologies to provide the United States with the capability to reach any target in the world within one hour ( Conventional Prompt Strike ) using an unmanned hypersonic bomber aircraft. The Falcon HTV-1 program, which preceded the Falcon HTV-2 program,

528-410: Is due to two competing physical effects: gravity, which causes the air to be as close as possible to the ground; and the heat content of the air, which causes the molecules to bounce off each other and expand. The temperature profile of the atmosphere is a result of an interaction between radiation and convection . Sunlight in the visible spectrum hits the ground and heats it. The ground then heats

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576-472: Is known as the adiabatic lapse rate , which is approximately 9.8 °C per kilometer (or 5.4 °F [3.0 °C] per 1000 feet) of altitude. The presence of water in the atmosphere complicates the process of convection. Water vapor contains latent heat of vaporization . As air rises and cools, it eventually becomes saturated and cannot hold its quantity of water vapor. The water vapor condenses (forming clouds ), and releases heat, which changes

624-428: Is that we get the technical plan in place ... I'm trying to build the bridge at the beginning of the program—to get the communication path flowing. Dr. Walker also stated, We need to fly some hypersonic vehicles—first the expendables, then the reusables—in order to prove to decision makers that this isn't just a dream… We won't overcome the skepticism until we see some hypersonic vehicles flying. In October 2008 it

672-444: Is the process of convection . Convection comes to equilibrium when a parcel of air at a given altitude has the same density as its surroundings. Air is a poor conductor of heat, so a parcel of air will rise and fall without exchanging heat. This is known as an adiabatic process , which has a characteristic pressure-temperature curve. As the pressure gets lower, the temperature decreases. The rate of decrease of temperature with elevation

720-508: Is the transition altitude). When flying at a flight level, the altimeter is always set to standard pressure (29.92  inHg or 1013.25  hPa ). On the flight deck, the definitive instrument for measuring altitude is the pressure altimeter , which is an aneroid barometer with a front face indicating distance (feet or metres) instead of atmospheric pressure . There are several types of altitude in aviation: These types of altitude can be explained more simply as various ways of measuring

768-521: Is typically measured relative to mean sea level or above ground level to ensure safe navigation and flight operations. In geometry and geographical surveys, altitude helps create accurate topographic maps and understand the terrain's elevation. For high-altitude trekking and sports, knowing and adapting to altitude is vital for performance and safety. Higher altitudes mean reduced oxygen levels, which can lead to altitude sickness if proper acclimatization measures are not taken. Vertical distance measurements in

816-622: The United States Congress in 2001 that all the United States had in return for those billions of dollars was "one crashed vehicle, a hangar queen , some drop-test articles and static displays". Falcon was allocated US$ 170 million for budget year 2008. The HyperSoar was an American hypersonic aircraft project developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). It was to be capable of flying at around Mach 12 (6,700 mph), allowing it to transit between any two points on

864-483: The troposphere (up to approximately 11 kilometres (36,000 ft) of altitude) in the Earth's atmosphere undergoes notable convection; in the stratosphere , there is little vertical convection. Medicine recognizes that altitudes above 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) start to affect humans, and there is no record of humans living at extreme altitudes above 5,500–6,000 metres (18,000–19,700 ft) for more than two years. As

912-455: The "down" direction are commonly referred to as depth . The term altitude can have several meanings, and is always qualified by explicitly adding a modifier (e.g. "true altitude"), or implicitly through the context of the communication. Parties exchanging altitude information must be clear which definition is being used. Aviation altitude is measured using either mean sea level (MSL) or local ground level (above ground level, or AGL) as

960-508: The Pacific Ocean along its planned flight path as a safety precaution. The glider's surface reached 1,930 °C (3,500 °F) (the speed and heat caused part of the skin to peel away from the aerostructure ) and controlled itself for 3 minutes before crashing. DARPA does not plan to conduct a third flight test of the HTV-2. The decision was made because substantial data was collected from

1008-528: The Pacific Ocean along its planned flight path as a safety precaution. Some analysts thought that the second failure would result in an overhaul of the Falcon program. In July 2013, DARPA decided it would not conduct a third flight test of the HTV-2 because enough data had been collected from the first two flights, and another test was not thought to provide any more usable data for the cost. The tests provided data on flight aerodynamics and high-temperature effects on

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1056-567: The USAF X-41 Common Aero Vehicle to form the FALCON program. The overall FALCON (Force Application and Launch from CONtinental United States) program announced in 2003 had two major components: a small launch vehicle for carrying payloads to orbit or launching the hypersonic weapons platform payload, and the hypersonic vehicle itself. The DARPA FALCON solicitation in 2003 asked for bidders to do development work on proposed vehicles in

1104-534: The United States. In addition, the recent hypothesis suggests that high altitude could be protective against Alzheimer's disease via action of erythropoietin, a hormone released by kidney in response to hypoxia. However, people living at higher elevations have a statistically significant higher rate of suicide. The cause for the increased suicide risk is unknown so far. For athletes, high altitude produces two contradictory effects on performance. For explosive events (sprints up to 400 metres, long jump , triple jump )

1152-436: The aeroshell. Work on the HTV-2 would continue to summer 2014 to provide more study on hypersonic flight. The HTV-2 was the last active part of the Falcon program. DARPA has now changed its focus for the program from global/strategic strike to high-speed tactical deployment to penetrate air defenses and hit targets quickly from a safe distance. Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV-2)

1200-414: The air at the surface. If radiation were the only way to transfer heat from the ground to space, the greenhouse effect of gases in the atmosphere would keep the ground at roughly 333 K (60 °C; 140 °F), and the temperature would decay exponentially with height. However, when air is hot, it tends to expand, which lowers its density. Thus, hot air tends to rise and transfer heat upward. This

1248-441: The altitude increases, atmospheric pressure decreases, which affects humans by reducing the partial pressure of oxygen . The lack of oxygen above 2,400 metres (8,000 ft) can cause serious illnesses such as altitude sickness , high altitude pulmonary edema , and high altitude cerebral edema . The higher the altitude, the more likely are serious effects. The human body can adapt to high altitude by breathing faster, having

1296-439: The altitude: The Earth's atmosphere is divided into several altitude regions. These regions start and finish at varying heights depending on season and distance from the poles. The altitudes stated below are averages: The Kármán line , at an altitude of 100 kilometres (62 mi) above sea level , by convention defines represents the demarcation between the atmosphere and space . The thermosphere and exosphere (along with

1344-451: The craft to separate from the launch vehicle, level out and glide above the Pacific at Mach 20. Contact was lost with the vehicle at nine minutes into the 30-minute mission, and the glider's skin disintegrated. In mid-November, DARPA stated that the first test flight ended when the computer autopilot "commanded flight termination" after the vehicle began to roll violently. A second flight

1392-533: The distance between London and Sydney, in 49 minutes. Built by Lockheed Martin , the HTV-2 is made of carbon composite material; the durability of such material was needed to prevent important internal components from being destroyed because they are a few inches from its surface. The surface temperature of the HTV-2 was expected to reach 1,930 °C (3,500 °F) or more in flight; steel melts at 1,370 °C (2,500 °F). Both flights reached Mach 20 ( high-hypersonic speed ) and lost telemetry at 9 minutes of

1440-410: The first two flights, and a third was not thought likely to provide any additional valuable data for the cost. The first flight provided data in aerodynamics and flight performance, while the second provided information about structures and high temperatures. Experience gained from the HTV-2 will be used to improve hypersonic flight. Altitude Altitude is a distance measurement, usually in

1488-407: The globe in under two hours. The HyperSoar was predicted to be a passenger plane capable of skipping outside the atmosphere to prevent it from burning up in the atmosphere. A trip from Chicago to Tokyo (10,123 kilometers) would take 18 skips, or 72 minutes. It was planned to use hydrocarbon-based engines outside the atmosphere and experimental jet engine technology. and in 2002 it was combined with

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1536-461: The higher parts of the mesosphere) are regions of the atmosphere that are conventionally defined as space. Regions on the Earth 's surface (or in its atmosphere) that are high above mean sea level are referred to as high altitude . High altitude is sometimes defined to begin at 2,400 meters (8,000 ft) above sea level. At high altitude, atmospheric pressure is lower than that at sea level. This

1584-547: The lapse rate from the dry adiabatic lapse rate to the moist adiabatic lapse rate (5.5 °C per kilometer or 3 °F [1.7 °C] per 1000 feet). As an average, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) defines an international standard atmosphere (ISA) with a temperature lapse rate of 6.49 °C per kilometer (3.56 °F per 1,000 feet). The actual lapse rate can vary by altitude and by location. Finally, only

1632-907: The letter "A". Athletes also can take advantage of altitude acclimatization to increase their performance. The same changes that help the body cope with high altitude increase performance back at sea level. These changes are the basis of altitude training which forms an integral part of the training of athletes in a number of endurance sports including track and field, distance running, triathlon, cycling and swimming. Decreased oxygen availability and decreased temperature make life at high altitude challenging. Despite these environmental conditions, many species have been successfully adapted at high altitudes . Animals have developed physiological adaptations to enhance oxygen uptake and delivery to tissues which can be used to sustain metabolism. The strategies used by animals to adapt to high altitude depend on their morphology and phylogeny . For example, small mammals face

1680-523: The onboard system detects [undesirable or unsafe flight] behavior, it forces itself into a controlled roll and pitchover to descend directly into the ocean." Reviews found that the craft had begun to roll violently. A second flight was launched on 11 August 2011. The unmanned Falcon HTV-2 successfully separated from the booster and entered the mission's glide phase, but again lost contact with control about nine minutes into its planned 30-minute Mach 20 glide flight. Initial reports indicated it purposely impacted

1728-538: The only Phase 2 HWS contract in 2004, to develop technologies further and reduce technology risk on the program. The second phase of the Hypersonic Weapon System development was to perform a set of flight tests with a series of boost-glide Hypersonic Technology Vehicles (HTVs). In parallel, some work was still dedicated to the conceptual development of a Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle (HCV) that would be able to fly 9,000 nautical miles (17,000 km) in 2 hours with

1776-619: The reduction in atmospheric pressure signifies less atmospheric resistance, which generally results in improved athletic performance. For endurance events (races of 5,000 metres or more) the predominant effect is the reduction in oxygen which generally reduces the athlete's performance at high altitude. Sports organizations acknowledge the effects of altitude on performance: the International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF), for example, marks record performances achieved at an altitude greater than 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) with

1824-454: The reference datum. Pressure altitude divided by 100 feet (30 m) is the flight level , and is used above the transition altitude (18,000 feet (5,500 m) in the US, but may be as low as 3,000 feet (910 m) in other jurisdictions). So when the altimeter reads the country-specific flight level on the standard pressure setting the aircraft is said to be at "Flight level XXX/100" (where XXX

1872-429: The vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context (e.g., aviation, geometry, geographical survey, sport, or atmospheric pressure). Although the term altitude is commonly used to mean the height above sea level of a location, in geography the term elevation is often preferred for this usage. In aviation, altitude

1920-547: Was a technological demonstrator of the HCV which would take off from a runway and accelerate to Mach 6 (7,400 km/h; 4,600 mph) before completing its mission and landing again. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) between DARPA and the USAF on Blackswift was signed in September 2007. The Blackswift HTV-3X did not receive needed funding and was canceled in October 2008. The aim

1968-519: Was always to be able to deploy a craft from the continental United States, which could reach anywhere on the planet within one to two hours. The X-20 Dyna-Soar in 1957 was the first publicly acknowledged program—although this would have been launched vertically on a rocket and then glided back to Earth, as the Space Shuttle did, rather than taking off from a runway. Originally, the Shuttle was envisaged as

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2016-430: Was announced that HTV-3X or Blackswift did not receive needed funding in the fiscal year 2009 defense budget and had been canceled. DARPA had two HTV-2s built for flight tests in 2010 and 2011. Falcon HTV-2 was successfully launched twice though both vehicles were subsequently lost to failure due to loss of communication. This resulted in uncontrolled crashes of both systems into the ocean. The Minotaur IV light rocket

2064-574: Was conducted in April, 2010. The mission ended within nine minutes from launch. Both these missions are funded by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ( DARPA ) to help develop hypersonic technologies and to demonstrate its effectiveness. Under the original plan, HTV-1 was to feature a hypersonic lift-to-drag ratio of 2.5, increasing to 3.5-4 for the HTV-2 and 4-5 for the HTV-3. The actual lift-to-drag ratio of HTV-2

2112-411: Was estimated to be 2.6. HTV-2 was to lead to the development of an HTV-3X vehicle, known as Blackswift , which would have formed the basis for deployment around 2025 of a reusable Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle, an unmanned aircraft capable of taking off from a conventional runway with a 5,400 kg (12,000 lb) payload to strike targets 16,650 km away in under 2 hours. The HCV would have required

2160-411: Was initially scheduled to be launched on August 10, 2011, but bad weather forced a delay. The flight was launched the following day, on 11 August 2011. The unmanned Falcon HTV-2 successfully separated from the booster and entered the mission's glide phase, but again lost contact with control about nine minutes into its planned 30-minute Mach 20 glide flight. Initial reports indicated it purposely impacted

2208-666: Was later canceled. According to Henry F. Cooper , who was the Director of the Strategic Defense Initiative ("Star Wars") under President Reagan, spaceplane projects consumed $ 4 billion of funding in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s (excluding the Space Shuttle). This does not include the 1950 and 1960s budgets for the Dynasoar, ISINGLASS, Rheinberry, and any 21st-century spaceplane project which might emerge under Falcon. He told

2256-420: Was launched on 22 April 2010. The HTV-2 glider was to fly 4,800 miles (7,700 km) across the Pacific to Kwajalein at Mach 20. The launch was successful, but reports stated that contact with the vehicle had been lost nine minutes into the mission. In mid-November, DARPA revealed that the test flight had ended when the computer autopilot had "commanded flight termination". According to a DARPA spokesman, "When

2304-614: Was the booster for the HTV-2 with Vandenberg Space Force Base (known as Vandenberg Air Force Base from 1957-2021) serving as the launch site. DARPA planned the flights to demonstrate thermal protection systems and aerodynamic control features. Test flights were supported by NASA , the Space and Missile Systems Center , Lockheed Martin , Sandia National Laboratories and the Air Force Research Laboratory 's (AFRL) Air Vehicles and Space Vehicles Directorates. The first HTV-2 flight

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