Aerospace Technology Development

Earth to Orbits Could Be Cheaper

THE FIRST IN A CONTINUOUS SERIES OF flight demonstrators called "Future-X," under the Advanced Technology Vehicle (ATV) program, could soon begin industry- and NASA-led technology experiments. The goals are to increase U.S. competitiveness in the worldwide commercial space transportation market and to decrease future government costs for space access.

NASA has selected the Boeing Company of Downey, California, for negotiations leading to a possible award of a four-year cooperative agreement to develop the first of the Future-X ATV vehicles. Depending on successful negotiations, work under the cooperative agreement could begin immediately, and alternative designs are available for NASA selection, pending negotiation results.

Future-X vehicles and flight experiments will demonstrate technologies that improve performance and reduce development, production and operating costs of future Earth-to-orbit and in-space transportation systems. Technologies tested through Future-X also will help industry and NASA develop and build future generations of space launch vehicles that are more advanced and cheaper than previous vehicles.

Under the 50-50 cooperative agreement, valued at $150 million, Boeing and NASA would advance 29 separate space transportation technologies through development and flight demonstrations. This modular orbital flight would be the first-ever experimental vehicle to be flown in both orbital and reentry environ ments. NASA is pursuing technologies that will benefit both military and commercial aerospace.

Three companies and three NASA research centers were selected to provide the flight demonstrator and flight experiments from a total of 50 proposals submitted in response to a NASA Research Announcement with a total estimated value of $24 million. The Space Transportation Programs Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, will manage the Future-X effort.

The companies selected are Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas; Draper Laboratory, Cambridge, Massachusetts; and AeroAstro, Herndon, Virginia. In addition to Marshall, NASA centers selected include Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, and Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio.

Selected industry-led experiments include a hall-effect thruster system flight demonstration of new on-board in-space propulsion technologies, an experiment to demonstrate an on-board intelligence planning system for autonomous abort landings and an experiment to demonstrate technologies that will significantly reduce the access-to-space costs of small payloads. Selected NASA-led experiments with substantial industry involvement include experiments to demonstrate advanced technologies of an integrated-vehicle health management system and ultrahigh temperature ceramics for reusable, sharp hypersonic leading edges, an experiment to demonstrate propulsion technologies that will reduce the weight and size of advanced cryogenic upper stages and an experiment to demonstrate advanced propellantless, in-space propulsion technologies through an electrodynamic tether that works as a thruster.

For more information, contact John London at Marshall Space Flight Center.
Call: 256/544-0914, E-mail: john.london@msfc.nasa.gov
Or contact Dennis Smith at Marshall.
Call: 256/544-9119, E-mail: dennis.e.smith@msfc.nasa.gov
Please mention you read about it in Innovation.

A contract in negotiations with Boeing for the Future X flight demonstrator could lead to experiments of cutting-edge.