HYPERSONIC FLIGHT IS DESIGNED: SPEED OF 13000MPH

The U.S. military said it launched a hypersonic test aircraft called the Falcon HTV-2, which reached speeds of 13,000 mph, but lost control after about nine minutes of flight and, they believe, crashed in the Pacific Ocean.
The drone was designed to reach Mach 20 -- or 20 times the speed of sound -- and could travel between Los Angeles and New York in just 12 minutes. Such high speeds could be useful for new weapons, among other things.
The HTV-2 was launched on a Minotaur IV rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc, Calif. DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, first reported that the HTV-2 was on course and sending data. But 20 minutes later it sent a message saying it had lost contact with the vehicle.
Another 45 minutes passed. "Downrange assets did not reacquire tracking or telemetry," said DARPA on its Twitter feed. "HTV2 has an autonomous flight termination capability," it said -- shorthand for saying it was designed to ditch itself in the ocean if there was a danger it had flown out of control.
This afternoon DARPA released a statement saying it had difficulty controlling the Falcon in the air.

"The aircraft transitioned to Mach 20 aerodynamic flight," it said. "This transition represents a critical knowledge and control point in maneuvering atmospheric hypersonic flight. More than nine minutes of data was collected before an anomaly caused loss of signal.

"'Here's what we know,'" Air Force Maj. Chris Schulz, the HTV-2 program manager for DARPA, said in the statement. 'We know how to boost the aircraft to near space. We know how to insert the aircraft into atmospheric hypersonic flight. We do not yet know how to achieve the desired control during the aerodynamic phase of flight. It's vexing; I'm confident there is a solution. We have to find it.'"
Follow along with the flight HERE (http://twitter.com/#!/DARPA_News) on Twitter.
An earlier version of the hypersonic craft made a flight back in April 2010, but it also lost contact about nine minutes into flight. Today's flight was meant to build on the knowledge from that experiment and add to the technical understanding of hypersonic flight, DARPA said.
The Defense Department is trying to develop technology to respond to threats around the globe at speeds of Mach 20 or greater. A warhead flying through the atmosphere might be harder to intercept than one carried into space by a missile.
Building a hypersonic aircraft is considerably different from a spacecraft, even though a ship in orbit travels faster -- 17,500 mph on average at altitudes of a hundred miles or more. Hypersonic planes need to cut through the atmosphere, and the dynamics of how to do that have proved surprisingly difficult.
"Assumptions about Mach 20 hypersonic flight were made from physics-based computational models and simulations, wind tunnel testing, and data collected from HTV-2's first test flight — the first real data available in this flight regime at Mach 20," said Schulz in a statement before today's launch. "It's time to conduct another flight test to validate our assumptions and gain further insight into extremely high Mach regimes that we cannot fully replicate on the ground."
The military has a long history of setting aviation milestones. Oct. 14, 1947 marked the first time an airplane flew faster than the speed of sound when the Bell X-1 reached 700 miles per hour, Mach 1.06, and in 1959 test flights began for the X-15, which set new speed records when it attained Mach 4, 5 and 6.
But Mach 20 remains a challenge. "As today's flight indicates, high-Mach flight in the atmosphere is virtually uncharted territory," said Maj. Schulz

Nokia launches two dual SIM phones

NEW DELHI: Nokia has refreshed its dual SIM portfolio with the launch of two slider phones, Nokia C2-03 and Nokia C2-06.
The phones pack 2 megapixel camera, stereo FM radio, media player and memory support that can be expanded up to 32GB.
Nokia C2-03 comes with a feature that allow users to personalise up to five SIM cards with a dedicated look and feel, and an Easy Swap option that lets users change SIM cards without having to turn off the phone or remove the battery.

Along with two dual-SIM phones, Nokia has also introduced a single SIM variant of Nokia C2-02. The phone will come with push messaging options and support broad range of IM providers.
Ravi Kunwar, Regional General Manager (North), Nokia India said, "These 'Touch & Type' phones offer internet, maps and apps experience second to none in the market. With the choice of a touch screen or a keypad, we really have made everything available and easy to use in an affordable phone that comes in both dual and single SIM options."
"With pre-installed apps on the phones and with the Nokia Browser that serves up relevant local content faster, we are making the internet experience easy, fast and affordable for all," he added.
The phones will come pre-installed with apps available on the Ovi Store. The new offerings also come with Nokia Life Tools, an SMS based service that offers a range of agricultural information, education and health services.
Nokia has also introduces location based service for the first time on Series 40 platform with local maps and places of interest pre-installed on the phone. Users can now use Local Search on Maps using both SMS and GPRS.
As for the pricing, Nokia C2-02, C2-03 and C2-06 will be available for Rs 4,289, Rs 4,949 and Rs 5349 respectively.