Air Force's hypersonic test fails
By Mike Mount
A hypersonic aircraft launched by the Air Force Tuesday spiraled out of control and was destroyed before it could reach its goal of speeding to 4,600 mph, Pentagon officials said Wednesday.
The third test of the X-51A Waverider was launched Tuesday off the California coast from a B-52 modified bomber aircraft and was to fly for 300 seconds, reaching hypersonic speeds of Mach 6, but only flew for 16 seconds, according to the Air Force.
Officials said a problem with a tail fin caused the missile-like vehicle to fly out of control before the main engine could be ignited, leading researchers to destroy it early.
"A fault was identified with one of the cruiser control fins. Once the X-51 separated from the rocket booster, approximately 15 seconds later, the cruiser was not able to maintain control due to the faulty control fin and was lost," said a statement issued by the Air Force.
It's unclear what, if any, information was gleaned from the test. According to the statement, "Program officials will now begin the process of working through a rigorous evaluation to determine the exact cause of all factors at play."
The Air Force plans to go public with details of the failed test in a few weeks, after researchers are able to analyze the data from the flight.
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"It is unfortunate that a problem with this subsystem caused a termination before we could light the Scramjet engine," said Charlie Brink, X-51A Program Manager for Air Force Research Laboratory. "All our data showed we had created the right conditions for engine ignition and we were very hopeful to meet our test objectives."
The Air Force had four X-51A Waveriders and has tested three. Officials said they do not yet know when or if the fourth Waverider will be tested.
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I, for one, have about 37 bucks worth of change that I would gladly donate to help fund test flight # 4 – a hypersonic craft that sucks air for propulsion instead of burning jet or rocket fuel? How cool is THAT?
Uhm Scramjet engines burn jet fuel. Scramjet engines unlike ramjet don't decelerate the air flow to below subsonic speeds before combustion. Instead allowing supersonic air flow through the engine. Enabling it to work more efficiently the faster it goes. It relies on the the supersonic air flow to actually work. So you have to getting it going pretty fast before the scramjet engines will even work.
This is basically a hypersonic cruise missile – easy to air launch of a platform like the B-52, B-1 or B-2. It is not a rocket – a scramjet is basically an airbreather. The SR-71 was an air breather scramjet IIRC when it got to speed.
It's just another weapon....
Idiots act like failure isnt part of how things works.... Everything meaningful fails fails fails...thats the whole path to making it work....World of idiots.
Maybe they should yank this program from Boeing and give it to JPL
This is not wasteful stuff.
For we are an endeavoring nation.
And remember, the working mans labor
creates the wealth of the country.
REALLY PEOPLE........Where would we be if experiments cease, we sure wouldn't be the envy of the world....these experiments may be taking money, but guarantee our children will jump into the world of technology, so I'm not ashamed to put a couple of dollars into it..
Mars Rover, hypersonic travel...don't you see what's happening? We would rather flush this planet down the toilet instead of fixing it, racing to find another planet to ruin in the process! Why should we expect anything different? Aren't we a people of destroy and rebuild? So sad to see mankind headed in this direction!!
Keep spending our tax dollars on war. We need more funding for NASA sorry DOD.
What an ignorant comment.
ummm, hypersonic travel IS for this planet. you should stop eating paint chips.
@Jeff You're not very bright. Hypersonic travel IS for this planet. Mars rovers are just for exploratory purposes, not interplanetary transport. And regardless if this planet needs fixing, we need to find ways to leave this rock. Heck, our planet going bust is a very good reason to find ways to leave. It is human nature to explore the unknown. You are very narrow-minded.
You are solo right. If I was you I would off myself with some good organic floor cleaner to eliminate your carbon footprint from mother earth.
Yes, by helping other people with that money we can keep them just above failure so they never learn and are always dependent on the system...and always voting for those that keep them just over failure but far below success, right where they want people like you... dumb, ignorant, and dependent.
You are soooo right. If I was you I would off myself with some good organic floor cleaner to eliminate your carbon footprint from mother earth.
Obama fault...
Yea romneys gonna fix everything (eye rolling),,, but all hes gonna do is holler about the mess that has been made.
ummm, oblama has made a living on blaming Bush for the past 3.5 years
You STOP Breathing and the World at large will be a better place.
For overpriced garbage look for the made in USA tag.
I will that way they can have all the pollution and cancer
For 3,5 inch wangers be chinese
this is why we design and test in the USA. it is called innovation and is something the Chinese know nothing about. innovation comes with failures before ultimate success. the chinese will wait for someone to do it first and then try to steal the idea. this is why the Chinese will never take over, because they can never surpass...only hope to stay close to the real leaders of the world.
oh wow all our tax dollars wasted on dumb crap. Just like nasa money spent on jack BIG WASTE
Lets spend billions to go to Mars and take pictures of rocks. WASTE WASTE WASTE
Hey their could be frozen water wow aint that cool? NO POINTLESS AND WASTEFUL
No, all the money was spent on earth. Some of it at the McDonalds where you are a fry cook?
"No pointless". Are we supposed to take you seriously? I spent my some of my tax dollars giving you an education, and look what I get.
Yeah they could have saved money by simply taking a picture of your head.
You DO know that most of the technology that we take for granted everyday would not have been possible or never would have been invented if it weren't for the space program. I think spending money on a useless war is a whole lot more of a waste.
Yea... the way we're sucking this planet dry and abusing it , we'd better find another place soon... real soon.
The human buffoon, Newt Gingrich will get America there with his delusional Space Station. The last time we checked, there's still more empty seats. Tupee wig Donald Trump is on it.
UNIONS want more money.... Waste of TAX DOLLARS.
Eat some more aluminum.
Hey let me ask you a question. Do you like your weekends off? Sure you do...
Now, tell me again why you dislike Unions...
Unions want more money??? for what? did they earn it or just want it? you do realize how much new technology comes out of military tests like this, right? and how much technology we all benefit from comes from the Space program, right? no, i'm sure you don't. you probably think every piece of electronics in your home was created by fairies with magic dust. get a clue and quit your whining.
Eat some porky feces. It will make you feel better.
The Pentagon, spending money at 6X the speed of sound. Did you hear that ? Hear what ?
Damn. I wanted to see that scramjet engine run. Or was it scamjet?
North Koreans are jealous of what they consider a resoundly succesful test launch. This rocket blew up even more impressively than theirs did.
leading researchers to destroy it early... genius.
WAVERUNNER: Maybe they should stick to the waves and buy a new board~!
A bolt made in china scre.w it...
A bolt made in china screw it...
Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Back to the drawing board...
I just put in $5.00 3 days ago!
it is very funny to read on the internet invented by military research all these bigots complain about how wasteful military research is. Bigots so stupid they do not even know, wasn't for the military research, they would not be able to blog their crap about how wasteful research is
That word you keep using. I do not think it means what you think it means.
You're right Marvin. The word shouldn't be bigots. It should be multiple words. "Small minded, reactionary foolish misinformed idiots".
THANK YOU! Things fail because they're being developed. It's why we call it "testing" instead of "exhibiting". Does anyone around here know how many different filament materials Edison tested, including plant fibers and bits of string, before he finally found tungsten and made the first operable light bulb. I'd argue that this hypersonic aircraft is a TINY bit more complicated than that...
You're the PROBLEM!
You Military con-man.
What is wrong with you people? I'm all for pushing our limits. This is how new things are discovered. What a shameful country we've become. Too many republicans. Short sighted...small minded.
huh? I for one love the fact we are trying to keep pushing the limits. Failure is still and will always be part of the game. I hope they continue to work on this and it ends in a successful development to a faster better drone.
So STUPID!!
This is the Concord all over again.I don't care about speed.Just that I dont want to get molested by security guards and have to be squeezed by some fatt-a*s
Fat a ss here, how much does this thing cost anyway? Please stop blowing up my tax money or just allocate only mine for education and parks.
Speak for yourself. I, myself, love to be groped and molested by our tax-funded "civil servants".
Pathetic. 53 YEARS ago, the X-15 flew at those speeds and it WORKED. Welcome to Obamaland.
Because President Obama is omnipotent and call do anything right or wrong. Your chance for Magic Draws Mitt in November.
Obama and his people have about as much interest in science and technology as a cow.
Yeah, why wasn't Obama working on the enigne of the dang plane?
Pretty soon idiots will be blaming the President for the drought.
This project started in the 1990s. Obama has basically nothing to do with it. It is very different technology from the X-15. Which also was known to crash.
He IS to blame.
That was under Ike. Eisenhower taxed the wealthiest at 92%. The Socialist Obama reams them for 35%.
I blame Bush. No way this can be Obama's fault!
THIS IS THE AIR FORCE!! YOU THINK THIS HAS A DAMN THING TO DO WITH OBAMA, YOU SHORT-SIGHTED IDIOT. THE X-51 PROJECT WAS A DARPA PROJECT UNTIL BEING OFFICIALLY DESIGNATED IN 2005. WHO WAS PRESIDENT IN 2005? DO YOU REMEMBER? NOT THAT IT MATTERED. THE AIR FORCE AND NASA WOULD HAVE DEVELOPED THIS TECHNOLOGY REGARDLESS OF WHO WAS IN THE WHITE HOUSE, AS THEIR FUNDING IS APPROVED BY CONGRESS AND THEN DIRECTED BY THE PENTAGON. YOU MORONS WHO WANT TO MAKE EVERYTHING ABOUT OBAMA ARE SUCH EMBARRASSMENTS TO THIS COUNTRY. GO DRINK A PBR AND FALL DOWN A FLIGHT OF STAIRS WHILE SMARTER PEOPLE THAN YOU DEVELOP NEW TECHNOLOGIES TO MAKE YOU SAFER AND MORE PRODUCTIVE.
I Cosign, this comment board has kindergarden written all over it.
This isn't about breaking spped records. X-15 flights were only powered for as long as the rocket engine has fuel – which is inefficent. What this is leading to is a hypersonic cruise missile – small and impossible to shoot down. It is also an AIR BRATHER – not a rocket like the X-15.
You are right we can and do already fly at hypersonic velocities with a variety of vehicles (missles, x-15,x-43, space shuttle, etc). The test was all about how well the scramjet engine operates at hypersonic velocities. Can we do it without using a rocket motor that must carry its own oxygen to mix with fuel that is the question. Unfortunately in this case one of the tail fins separated from the craft and they never got the chance to start the engine. I highly doubt Obama had anything to do with that. More than likely some outsourced part from a republican business ower trying to make a buck.
They need the help of the UFO Aliens
I am still too thrilled with the rover landing on Mars to be upset about this.
Have you heard of NASA Arizona PhotoShop propaganda machine?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
F***********************************************K-ING SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
44 MILLION AMERICANS ON WELFARE!!!! ............GAWD BLESS U.S. OF A!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That will be the least of our problems if China overtakes us technologically.
I thought that is where it comes from.
the problem is the conservatives are praying to heavenly father in sky, a bogeyman in sky which the hubble telescope has found does not exist.
how can the hubble have found something that does not exist?
'cause obama made it happen.
The most expensive artificial reef in history.
Reef? I thought it was for spear fishing?
Ohh, it's just a few hundred millions. Obama can make it back in a week in his nightly campaign parties.
Well that was a safe bet (that it would crash).
Next time, don't forget to push the choke in.
Who's your engineer chinese or india guy ??????
Racist piece of trash.
Aliens shot it down.
not only a big dissappointment, a big waste of money, just like putting a rover on a planet that offers nothing to us, except "we just want to see'...
How do you know? Have you been there? Maybe there are some very valuable things to be found.
I lost a quarter there, I hope the rover finds it. It was a lucky quarter.
No, its not a waste of money. Even so the "goal" may seem elusive, it's the technological spin-offs that greatly benefit us. This kind of research has already provided us with technology that you and I are using daily: cell phones, measurement techniques, medical instruments etc.
Basic and applied research has many spin-offs. This was a test vehicle. Tests don't always go the way we expected them to. Doesn't mean the test wasn't worth it. Waste of money? Not really. Money doesn't just go into the ether. This project employs scientists, engineers, machinists.... The money goes to companies that specialize in advanced technology systems. This helps keep the U.S. a technology leader. The future belongs to nations that invest in high technology.
Totally agree. Most technology the military and government develp trickle down to the civilian population. Computers sattellites cell phones, gps and lets not forget the x-15 projects....we would still be flying prop airplanes.
Or maybe the Soviets and Chinese should develop it first then we would all be SOL.
Anyone here old enough to remember when Bell Labs invented the laser? It was called an expensive invention with no useful application.
You can't be serious.
Better men ridiculed the light bulb.
This is what happens when it is made in america and we losing our manufacturing skills as we push all manufacturing to foreign countries, in the mean India and China are both getting set to Hypersonic missile/uav.
the slumdogs have missiles? then why the hell do the mullahs from pak keep screwing them?
Don't understand what you mean but India and China are both reverse engineering Soviet Hypersonic programs. India's missile Brahmos II IIRC (currently Brahmos I is one of fastest anti ship missiles) is set to launch soon and China has couple hypersonic missiles' in its skunk work.
As for space program both countries have plans for Mars exploration and have are planning to send a couple rovers to Moon in this year.
ya its not like we just sent a rover to mars, i dont see china doing anything that advanced. and they wont get hypersonic capability until we do, because they can only advance their military/space program by sealing our designs.
Tell how anything is possible without failure. It is impossible for anything to be successful without mistakes. You cant expect everything to go right the first time.
I understand that but we had technology to do this 2 decades' ago and we were doing it successfully but know we have lost that expertise to recreate what we had.
Look up X-30 and x-43 program,
John I think they were using rocket engines on those craft. This is a new engine, a scramjet. It has no moving parts and takes oxygen from the air so there is less need to carry its own fuel.
STFU
Why is there no parachute on these things? It's like they don't want to recover as much of the craft as possible.
A parachute, would cost $100 more!...
What do u think the Airforce is? The federal reserves bank?
So no one can recover it. Its cheaper to blow it up than recover it.
I'm guessing that the reason there is no parachute is because the rockets travel path ends over the ocean, if they want to recover the rocket they would also need to then install a floatation device; which would add weight and cost. In addition, even if they added the parachute and the floats then there is the problem that the rocket would still be exposed to salt water upon landing which would wreak havoc on the electrical system, unless the insulate and water proof the rocket—again increasing cost and weight.
Lastly, let’s say they do all that then they need to divert ships/aircraft and manpower to recovery and transport. If all they are interested in is flight data, they are better off just transmitting in flight and letting it crash.
Noexpert has it right. It's not meant to be recovered. I read that that would be too expensive. At first I thought that was pretty wasteful until I saw how small it is. It's not much bigger than a missile and if the engine has no moving parts it's probably not super expensive; mostly aerodynamics to ram that air in. The big costs are in the whole program and R&D behind it.
maybe it just went to fast..... good luck on next test .....glad it didnt happen to curiosity on mars..
We can't afford people's well being but, we can afford this stuff. How nice too bad we already have systems in place that do this exact function...
What hypersonic test vehicles do we already have to provide this function?
Why are you against scientific research?
Sad waste of tax dollars. 50 Million Americans with no health insurance, still fighting Bush's trumped up war in the Middle East, bailed out banks foreclosing on people- we should be doing so much better.
War is destructive to everyone but for some reasons, our leaders never learned.
Hypersonic vehicle crashes... blame Bush... someone in the sanitarium left their Prodigy account unlocked. 😉
Are you saying that Bush is in a sanitorium using other peoples accounts?
Jimmy Johns?
Tax dollar hard at work.
And what would you like to spend tax dollars on? Yeah, the US never gained anything by trying to develop earth shattering innovations before, right? Instead, that money should go to you, i guess.
How about a dismal education system, infrastructure, curbing the national debt, health care, and other innovations? Privatize this crap.
The U.S. military will never – never – get a research project done right and on budget. That isn't what they do. The U.S. military exists to kill people and destroy things, period.
You know the internet, what you are posting on now? Yeah, thank the Air Force for that clown, ARAPANET
Except the internets were invented by a British. Did u watch the olympics opening ceremony???
British worked on it in 1970's ARAPANET was conceived in 1962. The British certainly did work on many technologies which run the internet today, but don't make me laugh that they conceived it.
Bullsh!t!!!
It was Santy Claus.
Tim Berners Lee was key in the World Wide Web, but the internet existed long before that. It just didn't have hyperlinks on web pages. And it grew out of ARPANET, bitnet, ... And plenty of other military research projects have succeeded, with military and civilian uses. Who do you think developed jets and rockets?
Seems they got stealth right and a few other things in the past.
Yeah, the military never gave us anything. Except nuclear technology, jet engines, night vision, digital photography, the computer, the internet, GPS, Anesthesia, satellites, penicillin, and countless other things. Sure, you are right. You are also smart.
and rubberbands...
There are a lot of dumb stuff the military does but there research is generally of the high risk high reward type and they generally succeed. Where do you think the predator drones came from? Ever hear of DARPA? This type of research made the US a world leader. Now the GOP wants to take all that away and have the military just buy bullets.
@hogarth: yes, except for when they're doing things like helping people recover from natural disasters, keeping the sea lanes open, arresting pirates, etc. The U.S.Army also has a Corps of Engineers that performs various construction projects which benefit civilians. Our military also performs advanced medical research, including such things as designing artificial limbs. They're very good at blowing things up and killing people, yes, but they're very good at other things, too.
The test was a success, the government wants foreign countries to think it was a failure. Misinformation is as powerful as information.
Don't know why people are so quick to criticize these projects. This is the technology our kids will take for granted. You think the progression of technology stops here? Ignorant.
There are many people who have no idea how things work or how things are created or discovered – and most likely do not contribute at all to much of anything but pushing papers around at a desk. Many people cannot understand how various fields of scientific progress play off each other and continually lead to great discoveries. It doesn't really matter though – technology will continue to advance no matter how much cynicism or apathy or ignorance there is. Unfortunately, the cynics that comment here will of course reap all the benefits from such research when it eventually becomes successful and implemented into daily life. C'est la vie.
Instead of putting so much money into something that can reach a target faster during WAR, they should be putting those billions into finding a power source that does not depend on fossil fuels and propping up foreign dictatorships. Something like that would lessen the likelihood of war exponentially.
Foreign dictators existed before people cared about oil, and they will exist after.
Domestic ones, too.
There will always be dictators but that doesn't mean we have to prop them up by buying billions of dollars worth of oil from them.
The US Navy specifically and the military in general is doing lots of research in this area, looking at biofuels for one. I think I read a story about that in the last six months here on CNN.
"The Pentagon has set a goal of using 3 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2025 and has requested billions of dollars for energy efficiency measures ranging from energy-efficient aircraft engines to ships with hybrid electric drives in its fiscal 2013 budget request." They are also trying to participate in a joint biofuels venture with DoE and DoA, $510 million. That's more than this program.
YOU MY FRIEND ARE THE ONLY ONE THAT HAVE MADE SENSE IN A VERY LONG TIME. COMMON SENSE IS NOT SO COMMON. OH AMERICAN CAN KEEP FIREARMS AT HOME AND STAND THEIR GROUND IF SOMEONE WAS TRYING TO TAKE THEIR BELONGINGS BY FORCE. AND WE FAIL TERRIBLY TO PRACTICE WHAT WE PREACH ON THE INTERNATIONAL SCENE
well now we know where that defense budget is going. SOOOOO much more appropriate than school lunches or Meals on Wheels. After all, WE THE PEOPLE are much more interested in going 4,600 mph than eating FOOD at least once a day.
Who is not eating once a day? Seriously, if you are starving in America then you aren't trying. Pathetic, I took a week off and LIVED homeless, to see what it was like. It opened my eyes. I made plenty of money, like over $30 and hour tax free. (I did pay taxes on it at the end of the year, even though no one would know) So give me a break with this nonsense.
Who's starving in the US? I haven't heard of anyone dying from starvation.
The advances in sciences is paramount and should not be delayed.
You do not speak for me. I am very interested in hearing about this, and could care less about meals on wheels or school lunches. Not everyone is like you, not everyone cares about the same things you do. Learn that lesson.
I make 600 meals on wheels meals a day. I work in the local soup kitchen on one of my days off, I give food to the local food pantry once a week. I do this because at one point I had to use all of these resources and now I can give back. I pray you do the same. But 1 thing I will tell you there are resources out there because of people like me who won't let someone starve in my community. I also love the fact that technology is being pushed to its limit and that sometimes we have a failure. I am excited that we can put something on mars, I am also excited going to work everyday and seeing others in my community who know the government can't help everybody, and we all do what is right.
Americans would be better off with fewer meals. Have you been on the street lately? It's a freak show.
More of our tax dollars wasted again. We need this for what?
Call me crazy, but it seems to me that there are one or two instances in the past where being the first nation to pioneer a new technology came in handy.
In the past, yes, when we had the resources. Now, we don't. We are broke! Priority of spending must be adjusted according to how much resources we have left.
GET OFF THAT BROKE NONSENSE AND ALL THE PROPAGANDA OUT THERE. SERIOUSLY A BROKE NATION WILL NOT BE SPENDING WASTEFULLY
Nasa would have done it right! Shame they have no money now but hey throw it at the military so they can screw this stuff up while nasa pinches pennies doing stuff right. I dont know why they dont push military designing over to nasa. How many millions were wasted on this, how many millions wasted on the failed new camoflage. Nasa is the brain trust being choked to death while the fools in the DOD have unlimited resources and manage to never accomplish anything.
Your comments are amazingly ignorant. You have no idea the troubles that the military has with funds, who in the world told you that the military gets all the money? We can hardly keep any aircraft up due to the lack of parts and funding. NASA gets much more money than we do for larger projects that deal with freaking space, give me a break. We don't build these things, civilians do. Those same civilians that build everything for NASA and many other countries. We just carry the part to test it out. So undertand your government and your country. How many times has NASA crashed aircraft in the limited times they launch? WE launch A/C every single day and the ratio is low compared to how many launches we have on a daily basis.
other then the fact this is the 3rd time of trying the exact same test and failed every single time?
Too bad they didn't strap Cheney in there as the test pilot
Should have put your mom in their first.
i tried putting ur mom in it but it self imploded. So much for your mom
You're a dumbphuck!
HAHA
This is called research and development. What we ultimately do with it, military or civilian, depends what we find that works. This reminds me a lot of the X-15 tests in the 60's, except it cost a lot less and nobody died when it crashed.
really ??? http://aulis.com/moonshadows.htm
This is terrible, it is, it is! We simply cannot have these military failures, we can't, we can't! What would our useless European allies think??? I think I'm gonna cry very hard tonight over this awful failure!!!
Never be afraid to give it a shot.
They should be using vinegar and baking soda as a propellant. Then they could make a salad from the exhaust.
Brilliant, brilliant best laugh in a while thanks.
bummer.
"That's impossible. Even for a computer."
Since so much other defense testing and spending is kept secret, it's hard to say if this experiment was worthwhile or not. I'm not convinced the "smart money" is on the research generating useful applications. Although some of the results from this test will be made public, we might not ever know if the cost was worth it.
Sometimes an experiment fails, such is the nature of life, you learn from your failure and improve upon it. Almost nothing works the very first time. If it did work right the first time, every time, there would be no need for research and experiments. I would just conceive an idea and make it happen. Blam... I just built a multi-dimensional continuum viewscreen. Awesome... no not really... it requires time and money... The ability to blow things up with ridiculous precision and efficiency is not the only thing the Air Force does for you. Simple research would show an exceptionally large amount of industrial, technological and medical breakthroughs were brought to fruition directly or indirectly from military research. This simple fact holds true not only for our military, but most military agencies throughout all time have contributed to the furthering of civilization. The fact that you are typing on CNN's web page is an indication that at least a few of the more recent military projects were worthwhile to you.
the conservatives are praying to the wrong god. it is causing military failures.
The liberals aren't praying and thats causing the problem
Putting faith in something that was manufactured out of our own imagination in the last couple thousand years is obviously the problem.
High Five!
Did you guys have Mr. Wizard, Bill Nye The Science Guy, even attend a Science Fair growing up? Are familiar with The Scientific Method? You know: Purpose, Hypothisis, experiment, result, and conclusion. This is also called (say it with me)...progress. So while you watch your TV, listen to your radio, shoving your processed chick-fil-a down as you pass the drive-thru in your vehicle of choice and complaining about how gas is so high and will never think to do anything to help yourself but rather blame the government...just remember how that all came to pass to have those things: Science! "Oh but the government is spending my money on wasteful things like space and mars." Guess what? their spending MY money too. And unlike banks and Wall Street who will side-step where your money really is, I can see my investment. Frankly, I'm very happy that of this investment. It means, jobs are created to build, research, and improve the technology. In turn, make new things for consumers and create new jobs (yes, it creates more jobs). So it failed, big deal. Write it down and try again...And above all, STOP COMPLAINING!!
well said and good luch as they have pushed the ear buds so far in they are touching!
Shame you had to screw up your otherwise lucid train of thought with that juvenile Chick-fil -A innuendo.
Should I have said KFC or McDonalds then?
Made jobs for scientists.
Most missiles fly ar 3000 mph. Why not this? Not much bigger than a missle if at all.
Most missiles don't carry much weight, and they carry all of their fuel. If you want to go further with more mass, you need a propulsion source that can breathe. It helps when you can get some of your fuel (oxygen) out of the air. Works for internal combustion engines and jets, but they don't go as fast.
Money well spent.
Refund? Or are the receipts confidential?
Typical Americans simply brush it off and get up off the ground and go back to the drawing board...You may want to discuss further research and developmental problems with the Aliens first however.
"fell into the Pacific Ocean near Point Mugu" -- So, this pile of junk flew near Los Angeles? They did not want the Space Shuttle to land at Vandenburg AFB because its flight path would have taken it over Los Angeles. I guess lives have gotten cheaper to the military. Collateral damage. "C'est la vie"
The shuttle goes west to east. This is due to orbital dynamics. This thing is not in orbit. They fire it facing west.
you really should get your 'facts' straight...the space shuttle landed numerous times in California, at Edwards. Came in right over the LA area. Vandenburg is not equipped for such a landing, Edwards has miles of flat runways.
The test was done over the Pacific... not LA.
Test flights are done all the time out here, and it's no big deal.
And if this thing has a problem, it can be destroyed. That would not have been a good option for the shuttle.
to all the idiots making comments about delivering weapons: ICBMs are rockets and get to the target in less than 30 minutes. sheesh – too bad i feel stupider after reading all these moronic comments.
You didn't need these comments.
I just bought last season's X-50A Waverider and it was a solid ship. Too bad the Air Force is ruining their brand. Fail.
Bush destroyed this country.
it did more than that, he destroyed other countries' economy also, this is a global problem now the Good Old Poo are trying to blame on Obama and democrats. Where were they when Bush was destroying everything?
Tick...tick....tick....that's the sound of time running out on that excuse...
Not quite.
tick....tick.....tick
Carter destroyed the country too, but Reagan put it back together again. I bet Romney will be better at fixing the country Obama. Obama is clearly unable to do it.
Is that why we've seen the earnings gap grow ever larger since his "fix"?
No, we elected him or we failed to stop him from getting elected. We, the people are destroying this country. Decisions are made by those who show up.
LOL @ all these dimwits complaining about the cost of this test.
All major technological advances went through vigorous testing phases before they were able to be serviced. The MRI, CT Scan, telecommunication devices, etc all went through it and you wouldn't have them without testing these things over and over again (most of which originated from NASA).
These dimwits as you say are the ones paying for it. We're done with that failure!
so you want your 50 cents back? because that's how much money it probably cost you personally.
The test was a success. Top secret though, they don't our enemies to know that we can send a nuke to North Korea or other terrorist countries in under an hour.
No doubt, North Korea is a repressive regime to its people, but how exactly you can define it a terroris nation to us?
Did that tin foil hat come with fries?
If you are dumb enough to belive this is not a prototype for a muilt-mach cruise missle.......
bummer. those who are saying this is a waste of money... it's not. i'm glad we are still pushing technology. Saturn V rocket's had their share of problems before they got us to the moon!
remember when Armstrong nearly died in the moon lander? almost had a repeat of that last week (fortunately unmanned as well). just as long as we learn from them I am happy.
That is... if you believe they landed on the moon...
And you don't? No wonder we're in the shape we're in , so many in denial.
Gary there is photographic proof now get over the conspiracy theory. besides what is easier to believe that we staged a multimillion dollar hoax for 8 years (without a single leak) or sent people to the moon. my money is on the moon. we can't keep a secret in the government for a week.
if you look at this thing it is not to get people anywhere faster it is a way to deploy a bomb. if it worked it would next be outfitted with an atomic warhead in an effort to get a first strike capability. Maybe even before another country is able to launch their ordinance.
This thing has no wings or landing gear witch seems like a must if you are trying to have a maned vehicle.
The U.S. has had first strike capabilities for over 40 years. Manned and unmanned. Just not this fast.
sure but they have to start somewhere. why spend the money on wings and landing gear for a test to see if the engines work?
Minuteman missiles already go this fast, according to Wikipedia: "Approximately 15,000 mph (Mach 23, or 24,100 km/h, or 7 km/s) (terminal phase)." This program is specifically to carry something bigger than a bomb.
al-Qaeda people fault
Wow! What did that cost us????
If you have to ask, you can't afford it!
We cannot afford it.
The common denominator of all critics of any money spent on furthering our knowledge and technology? A near-universal inability to write a simple, error-free sentence saying so.
R.I.P. the pilot, how brave.
haha I have been looking for his name on Wikipedia but I nothing on Un Manned any help would be appreciated.
It was unmanned.
is that the first name or last name? ( just trying to be funny) will stop now 🙂
Don't worry... It's unmanned aircraft... 🙂
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, his would-be vice president Paul Ryan, and defense hawks in Congress are wrong that savings can't be found in the U.S. defense budget, according to Grover Norquist, the influential president of Americans for Tax Reform, who said that he will fight using any new revenues to keep military spending high.
"We can afford to have an adequate national defense which keeps us free and safe and keeps everybody afraid to throw a punch at us, as long as we don't make some of the decisions that previous administrations have, which is to over extend ourselves overseas and think we can run foreign governments," Norquist said Monday at an event at the Center for the National Interest, formerly the Nixon Center.
But Ryan's views are at odds with those of Norquist and other budget hawks, who argue that defense budgets can be trimmed. Ryan's budget plan provides for increasing military spending and doesn't suggest any tradeoff or specific defense reforms.
"Other people need to lead the argument on how can conservatives lead a fight to have a serious national defense without wasting money," Norquist said. "I wouldn't ask Ryan to be the reformer of the defense establishment."
Failure due to an Asian woman at the controls.
This rocket failed because it hit a flock of seagulls.
but Iran, Iran so far away.
Where is the "Like" button?
North Korea laughing at us? Hardly. They're too busy starving.
Funny how the insanely ignorant right-wingers want to blame this on President Obama, calling it a failure and a waste of taxpayer money, while they support a guy that wants to nearly double the defense budget with wait for it... your tax dollars. There's no cure for their level of stupidity.
the US is full of miscalculating mad scientists! Most of them could not manage to cut a choice tapered turd after eating a hot pastrami on rye sandwich!
This coming from a deli counter person.
no, from a freshly cut turd!
Gee, I'm sorry that we're not all as smart as you. And which scientifically advanced country do you hail from? Somalia?
Since they use our tax dollars, can I be the test pliot on the next test? I want to make sure they do it right this time.
Since people are talking about the economic impacts, I want to share some thoughts on our economy in the US.
No economic system is sustainable for long when gross imports trumps gross exports. We've been upside down from an export standpoint for a very long time.
My humble solutions:
The start of the solution must come with a massive reduction in defense spending, specifically in the foreign occupations and all of the unnecessary military bases overseas. Enlisted men and women can be stationed at home, guarding the borders and doing other in-country duties. We don't have to "abandon Israel" or any other allies and we can still accomplish this.
Next, revamp the tax code and close loop holes in the spirit of altruism.
Revamp the current farm subsidy system and make it more attractive to farmers. Slap Monsanto in the corporate mouth and get them out of farmers pockets in a fair way that won't bankrupt farmers.
Take one more federal bail out. This time, everyone who resides in their primary mortgage gets a $100K credit to their mortgage. If you don't have a mortgage you don't participate and if you bought an "investment" property you don't participate. This would immediately make a good correction to housing values and at the same time reduce banks financial exposure to junk properties and get them lending again.
Tort reform must come too but again in the spirit of altruism, not a warped sense of Laissez Faire.
Do something drastic with corporate taxes. i.e. If 90% of your employees are in the US, you pay a corp tax rate of 20% or something else creative and bold and fair.
President Obama and the other politicians from both parties have some great ideas of promoting domestic manufacturing. Green energy, etc... These will work better with a revamped corp tax code.
I like the way you think. You should run for office my friend. Wait that won't work you're too level headed to be a politician
Great ideas too bad you won't ever get elected. Stupid PACS finances elections so smart people like you don't have a chance.
add campaign finance to the list ! We just have to make "ideas" cool again . There is way too much bickering over nonsense instead of ideas these days. Ron Paul is a lunatic IMHO but he had some big ideas and that's what we need.
That was pretty good, also we need Social security and medicare to be based on "needs" if your an affluent retiree you don't need it! Closing all loopholes with the overall tax reform would help bring in much need revenue so we can invest in R&D, education, infrastructure, which are all the things we've been lacking for quite some time. We should bring back Glass-Stegall (I have no idea what Clinton was thinking, he's to blame for the mess as well, thats another subject), eliminate the fraud in Medicaid, (I know lots of folk that should NOT be getting it), and break-up the big banks that are waiting for another bail-out, the greed of these dudes is crazy selfish. The rich should help pay their fair share, but we cannot bring the debt down solely on their backs, neither is it possible to tax them at say 50% and even make a dent in it. If they would(congress) would just take my advice, then we would be out of this slow recovery in 2-4 years tops.
"
Like uh...duh...dumb idea. Remember the concorde crash? Bad idea.
No matter how bad your day was today, there are people whose day was much much worse.
At least this failure didn't cost us nearly as much as the failure currently occupying the oval office.
He shoots, he scores. Nice!
As brilliant, original, and insightful as a knock-knock joke. And witty (or even smart) comedians out there?
we cant afford to waste tax money like this at a time when tax dodgers like mitt romney don't pay their fair share.
idiot
Why call names, and on what basis? You just don't like the facts?
How can you prove Romney is not a tax dodger? Why else would he have accounts in Switzerland and the Cayman Islands (and he did).
Does anyone see a landing system on this vehicle? It's meant to crash just not after 15 seconds.
CAN't BUILT A REAL SUPER ROCKET TO THE MARS...... WASTE OF TAX DOLLARS.
Tax payer robbery.
Was the space shuttle "Tax Robbery"? If we didn't waste so much money fighting useless wars and building bases, we could afford these types of things. We have to keep trying to manufacture something again. No country can exist importing more than they export.
You what was a real waste of taxpayer dollars? Your obviously terrible education. You want to communicate in writing? Learn how to write.
wow how much testing would that thing have had in wind tunnels and this an that and still fail, maybe who ever bolted it up to the plane knocked it aginst somthing and it bent one of the tail fins
The money 'wasted' here has been paid out as salaries to the scientists and technicians involved. These vehicles are neither complicated nor expensive. The outstanding issue I believe is the computer automated flight controls. When this technology is conquered, flight in space will be much easier because of our new ability to attain escape velocities and then 'go vertical!'
Anyone mentioning God and the Bible in the context of this test is 'flaming.' There is nothing un-Biblical that I am aware of in the physical sciences. In fact the Bible even supports the concept of partical travel, the idea that a person can be teleported through time and space. The insistance that some biological theories are fact and can no longer be the subject of new discovery does the rest of the scientific world a grave injustice.
Failure every time: 3 for 3.
Come on guys, check the D@@@ thing out before you launch it.
This is expensive.
Yeah, that's the problem. They didn't check it out first.
Everyone here is reading this article and responding to this article – ON THE INTERNET, a government funded military project
Some of you are using your phones connecting over Cell Towers and satellites – another Government funded Military project
If you're using a touch screen device? That came from In-Q-Tel, a CIA funded Venture Capital (I.e., Government, Military) project.
If you're driving you might be using GPS right now (and you shouldn't be reading this if you are)... another Government Funded, Military Project.
And you want to cry and slander our American technology research and tax dollar expenditures? Are you just clueless or do you have to work hard to be this disconnected with reality? America isn't great because of Medicare and Food stamps... we're great because we invest in our future.
You couldn't be more right. Nothing is learned without some mistakes and drawbacks, from time to time.
Gotta crack some eggs to bake a cake. Costly mistake, of course, but necessary one. These things SHOULD BE affordable but instead we prioritize needless wars and unreasonable defense spending. Fix that issue and these types of small projects can continue to make the USA a great, innovative, country.
Agreed, we should also invest more into NASA because that is where the real money will come from in the long run. People are just to arrogant and impatient to wait for results.
Right on. You should change your name to OneProudAmerican. Research is to find the failure and we learn from the failures to get a successful product. I was so excited to see the Mars-Curiosity landing data. Also I am excited to see this failure as we are one step towards the working product. Good luck to all scientists who are working on these projects.
Well said. If anyone says that this is a waste of money, then you should steal that person's smartphone, sell it on ebay, and then donate the money to the IRS. That smartphone couldn't have happened with out a lot of trial and error, a lot of it at the taxpayers' expense. It's not a waste of money; it's an experiment.
Nonsense, we spend to much on "defense" (including this idiot project), and it is not stimulative spending, does not translate into a lot of jobs. We spend more than the ten next largest countries' defense budgets combined!
Retirement and health care or a bloated defense budget. You get to choose.
Couldn't have said it better! While others are using this thread as an opportunity to bash their political adversaries or try to be humorous (fail), you have put things in their proper perspective.
its useless to try and explain things. The folks you are trying to educate just evolved from monkeys in the last decade.
Duh, that's what the chinese are for
Then we give it away.
Hmm. Does the US still have to repay the Chinese the money it borrowed to build it now that it has crashed?
You bet ur AZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzz they have to with huge interest.
Glad you asked!
Another huge waste of valuable tax payer money. Someone needs to be fired over this. The Noth Koreans are laughing at us right now, just as we laughed at them.
N. Korea couldn't even get a rocket out of a fart cloud and yet we are playing around with stuff like this. I think we are still laughing at them.
i guarantee you "Joe" couldn't engineer a solution to his paunchy waistline, much less have the wherewithal to comment on something like rocket science.
the north koreans can't get technology we invented in 1945 to work right. I really doubt their laughing at all. And I guarantee if people were fired every time an experiment didn't go the way they planned, every scientist would be out of a job.
"Results? Why, man, I have gotten lots of results! If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is often a step forward...." – Thomas Edison
I think you are wrong about the NK, they have nuclear weapons (that's not primitive)
North Korea has a primitive version of the fat boys from like circa 1945.....hypersonic weapons are cutting edge. Neither China, nor North Korea, nor Iran has had time to copy that yet.
Hi joe... is your last name Dirt?
Dang, I knew I miscounted the number of wrench turns I did on those tail fin bolts. Color me embarrassed!!!
"You didn't tighten the bolts?" "No I thought you did."
I wonder how much this cost the American tax payer...
as an individual. Probably cost you about a dollar a year
less, actually.
I'd say about 15 cents.
A Great Train Robbery.....American got robbed and ripped. This news goes on public.
CNN journalism tards seem to revel in reporting bad technology news. Scramjet crash. Is mars worth 2.x billion.
Give me a break.
The US military spends a whole hell of a lot more fightin in the middle east then any of this stuff you people cry about in your articles.
This new technology will have many applications. It's in its infancy. Give it a rest.
Man...
What happen to wind tunnel research?
What happen to 30-50 year so Aerospace Engineering?
Why is Stealth fighter jets can fly but this can't fly?
WHY WASTING TAX DOLLAR TO CREATE FAKE ROCKETS?
.
Sometimes you just have to get out of the wind tunnel.