The report I read is that the X43 did accellerate after the engine fired....
The development team is walking around 6 feet off the ground right now...
That is something to have a Mach 7 wind going through the combustion chamber
and not blow the fire out... Next flight is planned for Mach 10...
denny
"Mike Rapoport" wrote in message
nk.net...
While I am a fan of the X43, it is not clear from what I have read that
the
vehicle accelerated or even maintained velocity after separation from the
booster. All they are saying is that the engine "operated". If it was
going M7.0 at separation and M5.0 when the hydrogen ran out, then it is a
lot less impressive.

Mike
MU-2


"Dylan Smith" wrote in message
...
It's good to see that despite all the naysayers, NASA still does
incredibly cool things. I watched the X-43A successfully launch on NASA
tv over the Internet, and it turns out that they got Mach 7 out of an
aircraft powered by an air-breathing engine.

Good to see new research like this into aviation. (Not to mention the
success of the Spirit and Opportunity Mars missions).

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"