When the Auroroa is finally revealed, I'll bet it flies in excess of this speed. And we developed that when, fifteen to twenty years ago? I don't know about Auroroa, but I've seen satellites as bright as the Shuttle that don't show up on any of the tracking programs and they aren't Iridiums. About three weeks ago I saw a pair of them about a degree apart. Quite a sight. They are in an orbital inclination that makes me believe they belong to the USA, not Russia or China.
The NASP or "Orient Express" program (and SDI) inspired me to take interest in math and science as a young skull full of mush in the 80's. Sure thought we would be further along by now. Space Station Freedom was supposed to be completed by 1992!
The program to develop what is called the National Aerospace Plane (NASP), designated the X-30, had its roots in a highly classified, Special Access Required, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) project called Copper Canyon, which ran from 1982 to 1985. Originally conceived as a feasibility study for a single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) airplane which could take off and land horizontally, Copper Canyon became the starting point for what Ronald Reagan called:<1> "...a new Orient Express that could, by the end of the next decade, take off from Dulles Airport and accelerate up to twenty-five times the speed of sound, attaining low earth orbit or flying to Tokyo within two hours..."