The second X-51 supersonic combustion scramjet test vehicle actually produced more thrust than expected before the test flight ended in failure, a U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) official told a U.S. House Aerospace Luncheon on Sept. 15.
Scramjets would enable flight at hypersonic speed of more than Mach 5.
"The neat thing that happened on the second flight is that … we made too much thrust, we made too much power," said X-51 program director Charles Brink.