The Breakthrough

There are several hypersonic crafts under development, and they could greatly alter the way that we travel. Indeed, many of these designs have already provided valuable insights into how we can quickly and efficiently get from one side of the globe to the other.

For example, the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV-2) is a prototype for an unmanned military aircraft, and the DARPA team behind the tech claims that it is the fastest ever built. According to Lockheed-Martin, the speeds that this craft was designed for are remarkable. They assert that, “at HTV-2 speeds, flight time between New York City and Los Angeles would be less than 12 minutes.”

In previously conducted tests, DARPA assert that the craft already managed to travel at 20 times the speed of sound during a test flight. And this isn’t just an anomaly. It maintained this speed for about three minutes before experiencing a technical problem…and then it crashing into the Pacific Ocean.

It was the second-ever test flight for this aircraft, and its splashdown occurred on Aug. 11, 2011.

Several days after the crash, DARPA director Regina Dugan confirmed the speeds, saying, “HTV-2 demonstrated stable, aerodynamically controlled Mach 20 hypersonic flight for approximately three minutes.” According to DARPA, the HTV-2 encountered an anomaly of undetermined origin, and the vehicle’s autonomous flight safety system engaged, directing the aircraft to initiate a controlled splashdown.

At the present juncture, reports say that no further tests will be made with the HTV-2, but not because we have given up. Rather, DARPA asserts that they have gathered the intelligence necessary from the HTV-2, and will use the data gathered to improve hypersonic flight.

DARPA reported that, despite the unplanned splashdown, they were able to procure more than nine minutes of data from the entire mission.

The Rational Behind the Tech

Conventional Prompt Global Strike is an advanced weapons program, of which the HTV-2 is a part. It is working to develop weapon systems that can reach any enemy target anywhere in the world within an hour. The program launches a rocket high into the atmosphere. The rocket then comes rushing back to the Earth’s surface at incredible speeds, generating temperatures up to 1,930 Celsius (3,500 degrees Fahrenheit) in the process.

In June of this year, the Chinese Defense Ministry confirmed their own fourth test of a hypersonic nuclear delivery vehicle (though a lot of information surrounding it is rumored). TheWashington Free Beacon reported that China’s defense ministry stated, “The scheduled scientific research and experiments in our territory are normal, and those tests are not targeted at any country and specific goals.”

Lt. Col. Jeffrey Pool, a Marine Corps spokesman, confirmed that the test took place. And he told the Washington Free Beacon:

We routinely monitor foreign defense activities and we are aware of this test. However, we don’t comment on our intelligence or assessments of foreign weapon systems. We encourage greater transparency regarding their defense investments and objectives to avoid miscalculation.

The hypersonic glide vehicle ‘Wu-14’ can reportedly travel up to 10 times the speed of sound. And hopefully, this tech can be used to for beneficial purposes related to travel and exploration.

Have Antimatter, Will Travel

Gerald Jackson, a former physicist at Fermilab, has a big dream. He thinks that, given unlimited funds, we could have a fully demonstrable, antimatter-propelled spacecraft prototype ready in less than a decade.

But since he doesn’t possess unlimited economic resources, and since the likelihood of any government underwriting a prohibitively expensive program in antimatter propulsion technology is pretty remote, he’s decided to turn to the guerrilla funding tactics of the 21st century: He’s starting a Kickstarter campaign.

The idea is to raise $200,000 to crowdfund initial antimatter propulsion research for Jackson’s company, Hbar Technologies.

It’s an ambitious goal, but the potential rewards are staggering.  The creation of a functional antimatter engine would mean drastically reduced travel times for space probes, both within the solar system and in the interstellar spaces beyond.  With potential velocities of 40% of the speed of light, it would mean that the stars would suddenly come within our reach; a journey lasting as long as the voyage of the New Horizons probe to Pluto would take us, not merely to the outermost bodies in our solar system, but to whole systems of planets circling nearby stars.

Some experts assert that a more realistic estimate of such a spacecraft’s speed would be about 0.10c (10% of the speed of light), but even this would represent a fantastic speed that is utterly beyond anything we have today, and it would still put a probe in the Alpha Centauri system (the closest alien system to our own) in just 40 years.

The problem is twofold: devising a lightweight propulsion system that doesn’t outweigh the payload by orders of magnitude; and actually getting one’s hands on significant enough quantities of antimatter, a notoriously difficult substance to come across (which, incidentally, is fortunate for those of us made of normal matter).

Jackson thinks he has a solution to the first problem.  “[M]y Hbar partner, physicist Steven Howe, and I came up with a very light propulsion system whose mass was comparative to the payload—an antimatter sail,” he explains.

Making antimatter

As far as the antimatter production problem—that may be a bit more difficult.  Antimatter on Earth can only be found where humans have created it, deep in the hearts of the world’s most powerful particle accelerators—one antiproton at a time.

Jackson and Howe estimated that only 17 grams of antihydrogen would be required to power their antimatter drive, which doesn’t sound like much; however, less than one gram of the stuff has been produced, and none of it has been contained for much more than a day.  So to sum: It’s very difficult to store, and its production would require a multi-billion dollar particle collider solely dedicated to churning out antimatter day after day—a fantastically expensive project.

Still, Jackson continues to dream, and it is of such stuff that the future is built.  He thinks he’s solved the containment issue, and he wants cash to build a proof-of-concept.  The rest, he hopes, will follow in due time.

The glare of Alpha Centauri, one of the brightest stars in planet Earth’s night sky, floods the left side of this southern skyscape. Credit: Marco Lorenzi (Glittering Lights).

Meet The Craft

Briefly, the spacecraft design outlined by Jackson and Howe is as follows—the probe will consist of four parts: A carbon “sail” coated with depleted uranium, a storage unit containing the requisite antihydrogen in solid form, an antiproton-powered electrical energy system, and a robotic imaging and instrument package (the science payload).

The actual motive principle behind the antimatter drive is a curious one.  The antihydrogen is used to induce fission, and will produce 2 GeV (2 billion electron volts) of power—far in excess of anything standard chemical rockets generate.  Upon striking a depleted uranium foil within the spacecraft, the antiprotons cause the uranium to fission, producing two “daughter” byproducts which are emitted in opposite directions.

One of these byproducts slams into the uranium-coated sail, imparting its momentum to it like wind bellying the cloth sails of a terrestrial clipper ship.  The other byproduct is exhausted like a conventional rocket propellant—that process of “leaving something behind” quoted in the film Interstellar as the only way mankind has ever found of getting from one place to another in space.  So there are really two propulsive engines at work simultaneously, which (theoretically) cause the spacecraft to accelerate rapidly to appreciable fractions of the speed of light.

It’s an interesting proposal, and well worth investigation.  Perhaps, with Kickstarter funding, Jackson and Howe can start the serious business of making this science fictional technology a reality. That said, they estimate a further $100 million is needed to develop an Earth-based test to prove that the technology actually works…so that may only be something our progeny get to see.

“Crowdfunding may be a good way to show interest in the project when it comes time to find bigger investors or governmental support,” says Jackson.

After that, with sufficient will, and a couple of billion dollars burning a hole in one’s pocket, dispatching antimatter probes capable of 0.40c to the near stars shouldn’t be a problem at all.