If all goes well, the Pentagon this week will test an unmanned aircraft that, in theory, can travel at speeds upwards of 13,000 miles per hour and send a missile to strike an identified target within an hour.
Wired reports that the Defense Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will test out its Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV-2) on Thursday morning. A Minotaur IV Lite rocket is scheduled to lift off from California's Vandenberg Air Force carrying the HTV-2, puncture the atmosphere, and then release the HTV-2. It's expected to hit speeds of up to Mach 20 before returning to Earth, landing close to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, about 4,100 miles from where it took off. The test flight is estimated to last about 30 minutes.
The Wall Street Journal points out that the HTV-2 could travel fast enough to make it from New York to Los Angeles in just 12 minutes.
It will be the first time DARPA has tested the HTV-2 after a failed attempt in April 2010. That flight only lasted nine minutes before the aircraft crashed into the ocean, never to be recovered.
DARPA has made some changes to the HTV-2 since last April. "For its second test flight, engineers adjusted the vehicle's center of gravity, decreased the angle of attack flown, and will use the onboard reaction control system to augment the vehicle flaps to maintain stability during flight operations," the agency said.
Thursday's test is do or die for the HTV-2. DARPA says it won't build a third vehicle in the event of a crash. Wired notes that if the test is unsuccessful, it's not likely that the Air Force of another branch of the military would pick up DARPA's research.
The test was originally scheduled for Wednesday morning but was postponed because of bad weather.