After seven months of examining data from the hypersonic HTV-2 vehicle that was lost during a test flight over the Pacific last August, DARPA says it has zeroed in on the vehicle’s skin, and its inability to withstand the stresses of incredibly fast speeds, as the source of the malfunction.
According to DARPA’s report, ground testing and thermal modeling that dictated the vehicle’s skin structure needs was completed based on extrapolations from known flight characteristics, and ultimately proved unable to “successfully predict the harsh realities of Mach 20 atmospheric flight.”
