Hed here The road to
space isnt necessarily a vertical climb; sometimes its as flat as Californias high desert.Engineers have been towing the
X 34 this week in tests with a semi truck on the runways at NASAs Dryden Flight Research Center, co-located with Edwards Air Force Base, in the California desert."The tests, which simulate the vehicles rollout after landing, will verify the crafts guidance and navigation system, nose-wheel steering, braking, rudder speed-brake operation and rudder steering," said Jeff Sexton,
Pathfinder Program flight test and operations manager at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
| Future Crew Return Vehicle Aloft Again |
| The International Space Station's future lifeboat took to the air again Friday in a test of its slightly new shape, avionics and aerodynamic control surfaces. Want to learn more? |
The 58-foot (17-meter) long pilotless
vehicle is a technology testbed to reduce the cost of access to space by developing reusable spacecraft that require minimal maintenance and ground crews. The space agency and Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Virginia are building three of the craft. Version A1-A is currently being used in the tow tests.
The X 34 sits on the tarmac at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in California's High Desert. The unpiloted experimental craft tests new technologies to lower the cost of spaceflight. Future tests call for airborne launches from an L 1011 jet.
Eventually, the
rocket-powered X 34 will be launched from Orbitals L 1011 aircraft to fly eight times the speed of sound and ascend to about 250,000 feet (76,200 meters). It then lands itself automatically at a predetermined site.Managers planned to conduct 12 tests at speeds from 10 to 80 m.p.h. (16 to 130 kilometers per hour), but Sexton said that might be curtailed in favor of upgrading A1-A for further airborne tests with Orbitals L 1011 aircraft.
Mishap damaged tires
Engineers conducted four successful tests with the
X 34 towed behind the semi truck, but had a minor mishap on the fifth test conducted on July 29.Sexton said there is a slight lag when the truck shifts from fourth to fifth gear at about 20 m.p.h. (32 kilometers per hour) and the
X 34 rolled up onto the slack cable."We aborted the test and backed out carefully," Sexton said. "All the people were safe and we essentially had some damage to the nose-gear tires."
Sexton added that electronic cables that transmit telemetry and are attached to the tow cable appeared undamaged.
Project managers are still reviewing their next steps in the testing process. No firm dates for un-powered or powered
flight tests have been set yet, Sexton said.Inevitable delays
In the wake of the loss of the
Mars Polar Lander in December 1999, most NASA programs have been reviewing test plans and procedures and the X 34 is no exception.X 34 tow tests were originally scheduled to have concluded in late 1999 or early this year with five un-powered test flights to be conducted at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico during February and March 2000.
Sexton said firing tests of the
Fastrac engine, which powers the X 34, are being conducted near Los Angeles. Last week engineers fired the engine for 24 seconds in a series of tests to prepare the Fastrac for flight.X-38 lifeboat tested Friday
The International Space Stations future lifeboat, another 'X-vehicle,' took to the air again Friday in a test of its slightly new shape, avionics and aerodynamic control surfaces.
Carried by a B 52 bomber, X 38 #131R, spent about two hours at 45,000 feet (13,500 meters) as engineers ran through tests above Dryden.
Another goal of the flight was to "cold soak" the vehicle at high altitude as an initial test of the seven-seat crafts ability to fly at high in the sky.
The X 38, also referred to as the Crew Return Vehicle, will undergo more tests for the next two years. In 2002, an X 38 being built at Johnson Space Center will go aloft inside a space shuttle and return to Earth on its own. The space agency will award a contract this fall to build four of the vehicles.
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