ASA BEGAN UNPILOTED TEST FLIGHTS IN July of an
atmospheric test vehicle that could become the first new piloted spacecraft to
and from orbit in more than 20 years.
Volume 5, Number 4 July/August 1997
Aerospace Technology Development
ASA BEGAN UNPILOTED TEST FLIGHTS IN July of an
atmospheric test vehicle that could become the first new piloted spacecraft to
and from orbit in more than 20 years.
The X-38 atmospheric test vehicle someday might be delivered to the International Space Station via the Space Shuttle as an emergency lifeboat for Space Station crew. Researchers are trying to develop an easily modifiable design so the X-38 can be adapted to other uses such as a possible joint U.S. and European human spacecraft.
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| NASA's first X-38 advanced technology demonstrator for the proposed crew turn vehicle is delivered to Dryden Flight Research Center. |
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The X-38 is being developed with an unprecedented eye toward efficiency. As much as 80 percent of its design uses readily available equipment and technology. The design uses a lifting body concept originally developed by the Air Force's X-24A project in the mid-1970s. Following the jettison of a deorbit engine module, the X-38 would glide from orbit unpowered like the Space Shuttle and use a steerable parafoil parachute for its final descent to landing.
A Russian Soyuz spacecraft will be attached to the station as a crew return vehicle in the early years of the International Space Station. However, a return vehicle like the X-38, accommodating up to six passengers, will be needed as the size of the station crew increases.
"Captive carry" flights commenced the unpiloted flight testing at Dryden. The vehicle remains attached to a NASA B-52 aircraft during "captive carry" flights. The first free-flight drop test in which the vehicle is released at an altitude of 25,000 feet, will be in late August. Similar free-flight drop testing will continue at Dryden periodically through late 1999. An unpiloted space flight test is scheduled for launch aboard a Space Shuttle in spring 2000. Johnson will also build the X-38 space flight test vehicle.
"Beginning full-scale flight tests is a big milestone for us," said X-38 Project Manager John Muratore. "No one has ever done anything like this before--deploying a parafoil from a lifting body and flying a lifting body with an all-electric flight control system--and there are unknowns. We expect surprises, but we have done a lot of work to minimize the unknowns, and we are confident this vehicle can perform well."
For more information, contact Audrey Schwartz at Johnson Space Center
Call 281/483-3276
E-mail: audrey.schwartz@jsc.nasa.gov
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