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China claims to have successfully tested its first hypersonic aircraft
China claims to have successfully tested its first hypersonic aircraft, a big step forward in aerospace technology that could intensify pressure on the US military. The China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics (CAAA), based in Beijing and part of the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, conducted the first test of the "Starry Sky-2" aircraft last Friday.
Hypersonic vehicles are not simply high-speed -- they travel at least at five times the speed of sound. That's fast enough to travel across the US in around 30 minutes. According to a CAAA statement released Monday, the Starry Sky-2 reached a top speed of Mach 6 -- six times the speed of sound, or 4,563 miles (7,344 kilometers) per hour.
The test was a "complete success," claimed CAAA, which posted photos of the test launch on social media platform WeChat. "The Starry Sky-2 flight test project was strongly innovative and technically difficult, confronting a number of cutting-edge international technical challenges." The CAAA did not indicate what the new aircraft or technology would be used for, other than to say they hoped to continue contributing to China's aerospace industry.
Also at Quartz and NextBigFuture.
Related: General: U.S. Has No Defense Against "Hypersonic Weapons"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Thursday August 09 2018, @12:47AM (6 children)
Don't worry! When F35 will be flight-worthy... any day now.
(grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 09 2018, @01:00AM (4 children)
Space Force
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday August 09 2018, @01:04AM (2 children)
Ends up fighting the Chinese on the ground and aliens in the space.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 09 2018, @01:09AM (1 child)
The aliens, that is.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday August 09 2018, @05:28PM
Haven't you heard we're about to go to war with legal aliens too, and probably with their US citizen children ?
Trump is probably trying to get rid of some of his children...
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday August 09 2018, @01:11AM
Haven't we established that the primary purpose of Space Force is to grope the travelers before embarking on space tourism trips?
Do you want another 9/11 but with space planes?
What if one of the tourists slips a 20-foot-long, 1-foot-diameter tungsten rod [wikipedia.org] on board and drops it on Mar-a-Lago?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Thursday August 09 2018, @03:26AM
And we might even be able to afford a 10% deposit on one. If it happens before next week.
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.