NY to LA: 12 Min Flight

[You]

NY to LA in TWELVE minutes: Hypersonic aircraft that flies at 20 times the speed of sound takes to skies

An experimental unmanned aircraft that fly at 20 times the speed of sound is to undergo a crucial test flight on Thursday.

The Falcon HTV-2 will be launched on a rocket into space then will glide back down to Earth at speeds of 13,000mph.

The previous test flight lasted only nine minutes before being deliberately crashed as a safety measure due to technical difficulties....

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[FigerPuppet]

I am insulted by your topic title and the format of your post. Do you think we're so disinterested in modern technological pursuits that you have to use eye-catching tabloid headlines, underlining and bold letters?

 

[You]

Yes.

 

[Thalassa]

This is cool.

 

[FigerPuppet]

Yes.

You might be onto something.

 

[Paz]

I heard about a very similar concept, maybe the same as far as I know, a couple years ago. There was a show on either the Discovery or History channel which had a few brief sentences on a conceptual craft that could basically be launched into space, skip across the surface of the atmosphere, and reenter at a high velocity, resulting in a ~12,000 mile trip that could be completed in under two hours.
So much for my lust for a Ferrari...

 

[Eric B]

That's what I had heard too (several years ago, in fact). I was wondering if this was simply the same thing. It's shaped pretty similar.

 

[iwakar]

[MENTION=10239]You[/MENTION] Is it safe to guess that we are more than a few decades away from this ability as a common man's luxury?

@ all: I wonder, would there be any parties -financially or politically- that would have an incentive to suppress this technology? Who would benefit and who would lose out? What is the downside to this advancement? If this kind of rapid transit becomes accessible to all, what is the global impact? (My mind is exploding with questions, so I apologize if these all qualify as a separate thread.)

 

[CzeCze]

+ Virgin making the first commercial space craft.

http://www.virgingalactic.com/

However, none of this will probably come to fruition for another 40 years.

DAMN IT.

You kids (and your kid's kids) get to have all the fun.

 

[Fluffywolf]

Who would want to go from NY to LA in the first place. Hasn't anyone seen that documentary called californication?

It's a bad idea people!

 

[iwakar]

I posted my Qs on my Facebook and a friend pointed out one of the glaring drawbacks to be overcome: G-force. How could that be mitigated? What sort of G-forces are astronauts up against and how would this compare?

 

[FigerPuppet]

I posted my Qs on my Facebook and a friend pointed out one of the glaring drawbacks to be overcome: G-force. How could that be mitigated? What sort of G-forces are astronauts up against and how would this compare?

Space Shuttle astronauts never experience more than 3 g's. The Falcon HTV-2 used a Minotaur IV Lite rocket in order to reach Mach 20 and the altitude needed for the test. This rocket is a modified Peacekeeper ICBM. The number of g's a person would be subjected to depends on the acceleration provided to the vehicle by the rocket. I wasn't able to find the average acceleration rate for the Minotaur IV Lite specifically, nor any benchmarks I could use to calculate it, but I did find benchmarks for the regular Minotaur IV rocket with a 1022 kg payload - I'm not going to bother deducting the effect this has. (Source)
The first three stages (the rocket is divided into separable parts that are removed as they empty of fuel - the Lite-version only has three stages, where the regular version has four) of the rocket provided an average acceleration rate of 39,56 m/s^2. This is equal to 4 g's. The peak g-force exposure takes place in the 3rd. stage where the rocket reaches an average rate of acceleration of approximately 48,77 m/s^2 over 55 seconds - this is roughly equal to being exposed to 5 g's for 55 seconds. This means that with the right suit a human could be placed on the HTV-2 and not be injured - given that it doesn't crash into the ocean again.

 

[iwakar]

Space Shuttle stronauts never experience more than 3 g's. The Falcon HTV-2 used a Minotaur IV Lite rocket in order to reach Mach 20 and the altitude needed for the test. This rocket is a modified Peacekeeper ICBM. The number of g's a person would be subjected to depends on the acceleration provided to the vehicle by the rocket. I wasn't able to find the average acceleration rate for the Minotaur IV Lite specifically, nor any benchmarks I could use to calculate it, but I did find benchmarks for the regular Minotaur IV rocket with a 1022 kg payload - I'm not going to bother deducting the effect this has. (Source)
The first three stages (the rocket is divided into separable parts that are removed as they empty of fuel - the Lite-version only has three stages, where the regular version has four) of the rocket provided an average acceleration rate of 39,56 m/s^2. This is equal to 4 g's. The peak g-force exposure takes place in the 3rd. stage where the rocket reaches an average rate of acceleration of approximately 48,77 m/s^2 over 55 seconds - this is roughly equal being exposed to 5 g's for 55 seconds. This means that with the right suit a human could be placed on the HTV-2 and not be injured - given that it doesn't crash into the ocean again.

Wow, thank you so much!!!!

 

[CzeCze]

I'm sure Virgin would make their plane interiors SO HIP it would distract you from your eyeballs getting pushed into the middle of your head.

Anywhoo~ I WANT A TICKET!

OMG, this + bullet trains all over = WIN.

Intergalactic flight will be too pricey and is too far off. But bullet trains? HELL YES.