Tests on the X-34 reusable, unmanned suborbital spacecraft should begin early next year as NASA officials finish scheduling plans and an environmental impact statement.
The vehicle, which will be launched by a Lockheed L-1011 airplane, is an attempt to demonstrate technology that could cut launch costs from $10,000 per pound today to about $1,000 per pound.
It is designed to reach speeds up to Mach 8 at altitudes of up to 50 miles. It has a 27-foot wingspan and is about 58-feet long.
The craft is designed to have a small ground and support crew of about 12 people to service it and provide a two-week turnaround time between flights.
Ground-based tow tests could start as early as January, said Mike Allen, the X-34 project manager at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
Tow tests of the first airframe, dubbed A-1A, will be conducted at Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif.
Following the tests in California, current plans call for five unpowered flight tests at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico during February and March.
In early spring, a second X-34, called A-2, should be delivered to Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico to begin static tests of its Fastrac rocket engine. Powered flight tests of A-2 should begin at Dryden and Edwards Air Force Base during the summer
Later on, powered flight tests are planned at Kennedy Space Center.
Currently, NASA and Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va. are working to complete A-2 in what Allen describes as a unique relationship.
"Orbital provides the technical expertise, drawings and support from an engineering standpoint, while the government at Dryden is doing the hands-on work," Allen said.
Allen said the role reversal will allow NASA to build the second craft faster and to conduct powered flights sooner.
Data from A-1A’s tests will be incorporated in A-2 while it is being completed.
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