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X-37 bound for Edwards in 2001
News Chief Members of Dryden's X-37 team attended a two day "kick off" meeting on Aug. 4 and 5 for the X-37 project at Boeing's Seal Beach Facility. The meeting brought the X-37 government team and Boeing team together for two days of discussion on the details of Boeing's plan for the development, assembly and test flights of the X-37. In July, NASA and Boeing signed the agreement that launched the program. NASA selected Boeing, of Seal Beach, Calif., in December 1998, for negotiations leading to a four-year agreement to develop and fly the orbital testbed. When the X-37 is delivered to the Center in the fall of 2001, the Dryden team led by Jerry Budd will work closely with a team from the Air Force Flight Test Center preparing the vehicle for orbital testing. Current plans call for towed taxi tests, three captive carry tests (two in-flight, one taxi) and five drop tests. Dryden will provide range, chase and simulation support. Dryden and the Flight Test Center will jointly work the flight test. Two orbital tests are planned for 2002. The X-37 can be carried into orbit by the Space Shuttle or be launched by an expendable rocket. The X-37 measures 27.5 feet long (half the length of the shuttle cargo bay), has a wingspan of about 15 feet and weights 6 tons. It has an experiment bay 7 feet long and 4 feet in diameter. Its shape is a 120-percent-scale derivative of the X-40A, an unpowered Air Force vehicle also designed and built by Boeing, which was released from a helicopter and glide-tested in 1998. The X-40A, which lacks the X-37's advanced thermal protection materials, rocket engine, experiment bay and other spacecraft systems, will be drop tested from a B-52 aircraft to reduce risks before expanded X-37 testing. The X-40A, which weights about 3,000 pounds, will arrive at Edwards next summer and will undergo static ground test, towed taxi tests and 13 captive carry and drop tests. The X-37 is an unpiloted, autonomously operated experimental spaceplane. The reusable space plane will demonstrate 41 airframe, propulsion and operations technologies aimed at significantly cutting the cost of space flight. The goal of the X-37 and NASA's other reusable technology demonstrators is to reduce the cost of getting into space from $10,000 to $1,000 per pound while increasing reliability. The X-37 concept provides the team with the means to test a variety of experiments and technologies, including a highly durable, high-temperature thermal protection system. The modular design of X-37 also allows for the testing of current and future technologies in the vehicle at the same time. According to the project team that could result in long-term cost savings. The X-37 will be NASA's first unpiloted reusable launch vehicle demonstrator to fly in orbital and reentry environments, operating at speeds up to 25 times the speed of sound. NASA's X-33 and X-34 technology demonstrators are suborbital and will operate at lower speeds. The X-37 government team is led by the Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., and includes NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain View, Calif.; Kennedy Space Center, Fla.; Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.; Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va. and the Air Force Flight Test Center. The Boeing Co. of Seal Beach leads the X-37 industry team. Other Boeing facilities participating in the program are located in Huntington Beach and Palmdale, Seattle, and St. Louis. |
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Responsible NASA Official: John Childress For questions, contact: Dryden Web Group Page Curator:WD-Team Modified: August 18, 1999 |
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