Groan! This has not been a banner year for "cutting edge" space technology.
Delays are one thing that have become predictable in this aerospace R&D business, but failure after failure this year?
TPS's solar-sails (Kaput!)
NASA's scramjet test (Kaput!)
The Pentagon's beloved Osprey (shakey!)
Japan's H2A booster (delay after delay)
NASA's X-33 project (Kaput!)
X-38 project? (a little hope flickering there, if Congress has its way over George W. Bush's objections.)
I hate cynicism, but...
Jacob