Test flight of X-43A makes Guinness World Records(Mach 9.6)

LA Daily News ^ | 06/21/05 | Jim Skeen

[C-Note]

Probably the next Aurora.

[CyberAnt]

And .. isn't this the UAV that won some prize at the Paris Air Show ..??

[Wiz]

It does look like Aurora. Could it (X-43) be the unmanned version ;)

[Wiz]

What, not X-45 JUCAS?

[CyberAnt]

Well .. the pictures don't look the same and I do have a picture of the X-45

So I think you're right - it was the X-45 at the air show.

[blaze]

Great..now the Chi-coms will have one, in a few months!

[Aeronaut]

[narby]

I think it's nearly criminal that after 40 years of research, we've abandoned air-breathing high speed flight. This is the way to get into orbit. The X-43 was almost half the way to orbital velocity. Certianly a quick zoom climb at mach 10 or 12 and a short rocket burn would have completed the trip, using much less fuel, which takes a much smaller craft, which is much easier to fly and maintain. Read - much cheaper.

Sometimes I think there's a conspiracy among the spacefareing organizations to keep space flight so expensive that only the largest governments can afford it. Thus they refuse to develop technology that could put space flight in the price range affordable by smaller countries, and perhaps some corporations.

Not even Burt Rutan is talking about this kind of technology. He recently took a contract for a government test program flying his "White Knight" aircraft. I'm sure he knows what technologies are "off limits" and where his bread is buttered.

[GoldCountryRedneck]

One fast "$100 Hamburger" flite ....

[adaven]

Can it carry nuclear warheads ?

Damn, that's just too funny! LOL!