IN LATE JULY a Chinese Long March rocket streaked into space, much like the dozens that took off last year. But having begun to orbit the Earth, this rocket’s payload then lurched downwards, glided through the upper atmosphere and finally crashed to the ground. American officials were stunned, says the Financial Times, which recently broke news that this had been a test of a nuclear-capable hypersonic glider (China denies it). China conducted another such experiment a couple of weeks later, says the newspaper.Listen to this storyYour browser does not support the element.Enjoy more audio and podcasts on iOS or Android. The novelty of such gliders is not that they are unusually fast—in some cases, they are slower than an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) as it re-enters the atmosphere—but that they are manoeuvrable. A Russian or Chinese ICBM fired at America travels over the North Pole and high into space, visible to radar systems in the Arctic, and then plunges back down in a predictable way (see diagram) …
