The Boeing X-40A
From astronautix.com:
X-40
X-40A
Credit: NASA
American spaceplane. Study 2001. Boeing X-40A Experimental Space Maneuver Vehicle was built to test landing technologies for the later X-37.
The X-40A successfully completed a series of seven approach and landing tests at NASA Dryden in 2000 and 2001. About 20 percent smaller than the X-37, the X-40A was released from a helicopter at 4600 m during the series of unpowered glide flights. These flights validated the autonomous flight control system planned for the X-37, thereby reducing the risk of the X-37 program.
Height: 6.71 m (22.01 ft).
Span: 3.66 m (12.00 ft).
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Associated Countries •USA
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See also •Spaceplane
•Suborbital
•US Rocketplanes
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Associated Manufacturers and Agencies •Boeing American manufacturer of rockets, spacecraft, and rocket engines. Boeing Aerospace, Seattle, USA. More...
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The Kelly Astroliner
from Astronautix.com:
Astroliner
American manned rocketplane. Study 2002. The Kelly Space & Technology Astroliner Space Launch System was a two-stage-to-orbit, towed space launch concept.
Towing an aerodynamic vehicle to an altitude of 6,000 m yielded higher system performance due to vacuum engine performance, reduced drag and gravity losses, and aerodynamic lift during flight.
After separation from the 747 towing aircraft at 6,000 m and Mach 0.8, the Astroliner would boost itself to 2750 m/s and 110 km altitude before releasing an expendable upper stage (4.2 m diameter x 7.6 m long) and payload (4.85 meter diameter x 7.56 meter long). The upper stage was capable of delivering a 5,000 kg payload into a 185 km 28.5° orbit at a cost per launch of $ 22 million - 40% of the cost of existing launchers.
Following release of the upper stage, Astroliner would continue on its suborbital trajectory, re-enter the atmosphere, and land at a conventional runway. The contemporary Pioneer Rocketplane Pathfinder design of the same period had a similar approached, but used aerial refueling instead of towing to reach a similar launch point. The first operational flight for the Astroliner was planned in 1999 for early 2002.
Characteristics
Crew Size: 1.
Height: 48.00 m (157.00 ft).
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Associated Countries •USA
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See also •Low earth orbit
•Manned
•Rocketplane
•US Rocketplanes
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Associated Launch Vehicles •Astroliner American air-launched orbital launch vehicle. The Kelly Space & Technology Astroliner Space Launch System was a two-stage-to-orbit, towed space launch concept. Towing an aerodynamic vehicle to an altitude of 6,000 m yielded higher system performance due to vacuum engine performance, reduced drag and gravity losses, and aerodynamic lift during flight. More...
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Associated Manufacturers and Agencies •Kelly American manufacturer of rockets and spacecraft. Kelly Space and Technology, USA. More...
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the Lockheed X-33 Venture Star
from astronautix.com:
Venturestar
American manned spaceplane. Study 2006. Production reusable single-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle using technology developed in X-33 testbed.
Crew Size: 1.
Gross mass: 991,000 kg (2,184,000 lb).
Height: 39.70 m (130.20 ft).
Thrust: 13,386.00 kN (3,009,292 lbf).
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Associated Countries •USA
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See also •Low earth orbit
•Manned
•Spaceplane
•US Rocketplanes
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Associated Launch Vehicles •Venturestar American SSTO winged orbital launch vehicle. Production reusable single-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle using technology developed in X-33 testbed. More...
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Associated Manufacturers and Agencies •Lockheed American manufacturer of rockets, spacecraft, and rocket engines. Lockheed Martin, Sunnyvale, CA, USA. More...
From youtube:
And this, from Wikipedia:
Lockheed Martin X-33
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2011)
X-33
Simulated in-flight view of the X-33
Function: Unmanned Re-usable Spaceplane technology demonstrator
Manufacturer: Lockheed Martin
Country of origin: United States
Size
Height: 20 m[1] (69 ft)
Diameter: N/A
Mass: 285,000 lb[1] (130,000 kg)
Stages: 1
Capacity
Launch history
Status: Canceled (2001)
Launch sites: Edwards Air Force Base
Total launches: 0
First stage - X-33
Engines: 2 J-2S Linear Aerospikes[1]
Thrust: 410,000 lbf[1] (1.82 MN)
Burn time Fuel: LOX/LH2
The Lockheed Martin X-33 was an unmanned, sub-scale technology demonstrator suborbital spaceplane developed in the 1990s under the U.S. government-funded Space Launch Initiative program. The X-33 was a technology demonstrator for the VentureStar orbital spaceplane, which was planned to be a next-generation, commercially-operated reusable launch vehicle. The X-33 would flight-test a range of technologies that NASA believed it needed for single-stage-to-orbit reusable launch vehicles (SSTO RLVs), such as metallic thermal protection systems, composite cryogenic fuel tanks for liquid hydrogen, the aerospike engine, autonomous (unmanned) flight control, rapid flight turn-around times through streamlined operations, and its lifting body aerodynamics.
Failures led to the cancellation of the program as a federal program in 2001, but Lockheed Martin has conducted related testing, and has had successes as recently as 2009.[2]
Design and development
Through the use of the lifting body shape, composite liquid fuel tanks, and the aerospike engine, NASA and Lockheed Martin hoped to test fly a craft that would demonstrate the viability of a single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) design. An SSTO craft would not require external fuel tanks or boosters to reach low-earth orbit. Doing away with the need for "staging" with launch vehicles, such as with the Shuttle and the Apollo rockets, would lead to an inherently more reliable and safer space launch vehicle. While the X-33 would not approach airplane-like safety, the X-33 would attempt to demonstrate that 0.997 reliability, or 3 mishaps out of 1,000 launches, which would be an order of magnitude more reliable than the Space Shuttle system, was achievable. The 15 planned experimental X-33 flights could only begin this statistical evaluation.
X-33 launch facility already completed at Edwards Air Force Base.
The unmanned craft would have been launched vertically from a specially designed facility constructed on Edwards Air Force Base,[3] and landed horizontally (VTHL) on a runway at the end of its mission. Initial sub-orbital test flights were planned from Edwards AFB to Dugway Proving Grounds southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah. Once those test flights were completed, further flight tests were to be conducted from Edwards AFB to Malmstrom AFB in Great Falls, Montana, to gather more complete data on aircraft heating and engine performance at higher speeds and altitudes.[citation needed]
On July 2, 1996, NASA selected Lockheed Martin Skunk Works of Palmdale, California, to design, build, and test the X-33 experimental vehicle for the RLV program. Lockheed Martin's design concept for the X-33 was selected over competing designs from Boeing and McDonnell Douglas. Boeing featured a Space Shuttle-derived design, and McDonnell Douglas featured a design based on its vertical takeoff and landing (VTVL) DC-XA test vehicle.
The X-33 was never intended to fly higher than an altitude of 100 km, nor faster than one-half of orbital velocity. Had any successful tests occurred, extrapolation would have been necessary to apply the results to a proposed orbital vehicle.[4]
Commercial spaceflight
Based on the X-33 experience shared with NASA, Lockheed Martin hoped to make the business case for a full-scale SSTO RLV, called VentureStar, that would be developed and operated through commercial means. The intention was that rather than operate space transport systems as it has with the Space Shuttle, NASA would instead look to private industry to operate the reusable launch vehicle and NASA would purchase launch services from the commercial launch provider. Thus, the X-33 was not only about honing space flight technologies, but also about successfully demonstrating the technology required to make a commercial reusable launch vehicle possible.
The VentureStar was to be the first commercial aircraft to fly into space. The unmanned X-33 was slated to fly 15 suborbital hops to near 75.8 km altitude.[4] It was to be launched upright like a rocket and rather than having a straight flight path it would fly diagonally up for half the flight, reaching extremely high altitudes, and then back down for the rest of the flight. The VentureStar was intended for long inter-continental flights and supposed to be in service by 2012, but this project was never funded or begun.[citation needed]
Aerospike engine test at Stennis Space Center, August 6, 2001
The decision to design and build the X-33 grew out of an internal NASA study titled "Access to Space".[5] Unlike other space transport studies, "Access to Space" was to result in the design and construction of a vehicle.
NASA Cancellation
Construction of the prototype was some 85% assembled with 96% of the parts and the launch facility 100%[3] complete when the program was canceled by NASA in 2001, after a long series of technical difficulties including flight instability and excess weight.
In particular, the composite liquid hydrogen fuel tank failed during testing in November 1999. The tank was constructed of honeycomb composite walls and internal structures to reduce its weight. A lighter tank was needed for the craft to demonstrate necessary technologies for single-stage-to-orbit operations. A hydrogen fueled SSTO craft's mass fraction requires that the weight of the vehicle without fuel be 10% of the fully-fueled weight. This would allow for a vehicle to fly to low earth orbit without the need for the sort of external boosters and fuel tanks used by the Space Shuttle. But, after the composite tank failed on the test stand during fueling and pressure tests, NASA came to the conclusion that the technology of the time was simply not advanced enough for such a design. While the composite tank walls themselves were lighter, the odd hydrogen tank shape resulted in complex joints increasing the total mass of the composite tank to above that of an aluminum-based tank.[6]
NASA had invested $922 million in the project before cancellation and Lockheed Martin a further $357 million. Due to changes in the space launch business—including the challenges faced by companies such as Globalstar, Teledesic, and Iridium and the resulting drop in the number of anticipated commercial satellite launches per year—Lockheed Martin deemed that continuing development of the X-33 privately without government support would not be profitable.
Continued research
After the cancellation in 2001, engineers were able to make a working liquid oxygen tank out of carbon fiber composite.
On September 7, 2004, Northrop Grumman and NASA engineers unveiled a liquid hydrogen tank made of carbon fiber composite material that had demonstrated the ability for repeated fuelings and simulated launch cycles.[7] Northrop Grumman concluded that these successful tests have enabled the development and refinement of new manufacturing processes that will allow the company to build large composite tanks without an autoclave; and design and engineering development of conformal fuel tanks appropriate for use on a single-stage-to-orbit vehicle.[8]
Lockheed Martin has been testing a new and different 1/5 scale rocket described to be similar in capabilities and design, known now simply as a "Space Reusable Launch Vehicle". Two tests were conducted secretly at the Spaceport America in New Mexico. The first on December 19, 2007 was billed as a complete success, while the August 12, 2008 launch ended in an irreparable crash after 12.5 seconds of flight.[9][10][11] A third test on October 10, 2009, was another success.[2]
Notable appearances in popular media
In Dan Brown's 2000 novel Angels & Demons, CERN, the nuclear physics research laboratory, owns a "Boeing X-33" [sic], which is capable of Mach 15, and of flying from Boston to Switzerland in less than an hour.[12] It is also mentioned in his novel Deception Point.[Full citation needed]
See also
Spaceplane
Skylon
References
1.^ a b c d "NASA:X-33 Historical Fact Sheet (wikisource)". Retrieved 2007-04-22.
2.^ a b David, Leonard (15 Oct 2009). "Reusable rocket plane soars in test flight". MSNBC. Retrieved 27 Oct 2009.
3.^ a b "X-33 Launch Complex (Area 1-54)" (PDF). USAF.
4.^ a b "Environmental Impact Statement, Notice of Intent 96-118". NASA. October 7, 1996. "Flight tests would involve speeds of up to Mach 15 and altitudes up to approximately 75,800 meters ... The test program is currently baselined for a combined total of 15 flights."
5.^ "The Policy Origins of the X-33". NASA. September 23, 1998.
6.^ Bergin, Chris (January 4, 2006). "X-33/VentureStar - What really happened". NASASpaceFlight.com.
7.^ Northrop Grumman. "Northrop Grumman, NASA Complete Testing of Prototype Composite Cryogenic Fuel Tank", News Releases, September 7, 2004, accessed April 27, 2011.
8.^ Black, Sara (November 2005). "An update on composite tanks for cryogens". High-Performance Composites.
9.^ "Lockheed loses prototype of Space reusable launch vehicle". Domain-B. August 18, 2008.
10.^ David, Leonard (April 24, 2008). "Lockheed Test Flies Space Plane Prototype". Space.com.
11.^ David, Leonard (August 15, 2008). "Space Plane Prototype Suffers Anomaly in Launch Test". SPACE.com.
12.^ "Angels and Demons". CERN.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: X-33
X-33 History Project page on NASA.gov
X-33 project article on Nasaspaceflight.com
Federation of American Scientists
"Status of the X-33 Reusable Launch Vehicle Program"PDF, GAO, August 1999.
X-33 cancellation press release, NASA, March 1, 2001.
X-33 Launch Complex (Area 1-54)PDF
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The DARPA FALCON Project
from Wikipedia:
DARPA Falcon Project
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Illustration of Hypersonic Test Vehicle (HTV) 2 reentry phase
The DARPA Falcon Project (Force Application and Launch from Continental United States) is a two-part joint project between the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the United States Air Force (USAF). One part of the program aims to develop a reusable, rapid-strike Hypersonic Weapon System (HWS), now retitled the Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle (HCV), and the other is for the development of a launch system capable of accelerating a HCV to cruise speeds, as well as launching small satellites into earth orbit. This two-part program was announced in 2003 and continued into 2006.[1]
The latest project to be announced under the Falcon banner was a fighter-sized unmanned aircraft called "Blackswift" which would take off from a runway and accelerate to Mach 6 before completing its mission and landing again. The memo of understanding between DARPA and the USAF on Blackswift — also known as the HTV-3X — was signed in September 2007. The Blackswift HTV-3X did not receive needed funding and was canceled in October 2008.[2]
Current research under FALCON program is centered around X-41 Common Aero Vehicle (CAV), a common aerial platform for hypersonic ICBMs and cruise missiles, as well as civilian RLVs and ELVs. The prototype Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-2 (HTV-2) first flew on 22 April 2010; further tests are scheduled for 2011.
Design and development
Past projects
The aim was always to be able to deploy a craft from the continental United States, which could reach anywhere on the planet within an hour or two. The X-20 Dyna-Soar in 1957 was the first publicly acknowledged program — although this would have been launched vertically on a rocket and then glided back to Earth, as the Space Shuttle does, rather than taking off from a runway. Originally, the Shuttle was envisaged as a part-USAF operation, and separate military launch facilities were built at Vandenberg AFB at great cost, though never used. After the open DynaSoar USAF program from 1957–1963, spaceplanes went black. In the mid 1960s, the CIA began work on a high-Mach spyplane called Project Isinglass. This developed into Rheinberry, a design for a Mach-17 air-launched reconnaissance aircraft, which was later canceled.[3] Black spending on spaceplanes probably peaked in the 1980s during the Strategic Defense Initiative when Science Dawn, Have Region and Copper Canyon focused efforts on building a spaceplane that could take off from a runway like an aircraft. In 1986, that emerged back into the white world, with President Ronald Reagan's announcement of the National AeroSpace Plane (NASP). When that project was canceled in 1992, the spaceplane efforts went black again, until the USAF announced FALCON in 2003, although FALCON at least initially was aimed to build smaller unmanned vehicles.[citation needed]
According to Henry F. Cooper, who was the Director of the Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars) under President Reagan, spaceplane projects swallowed $4 billion in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s (excluding the Space Shuttle). This does not include the 1950 and 1960s budgets for the Dynasoar, ISINGLASS, Rheinberry, and any 21st-century spaceplane project which might emerge under Falcon. He told the United States Congress in 2001 that all the United States had in return for those billions of dollars was "one crashed vehicle, a hangar queen, some drop-test articles and static displays".[4] Others would argue that Falcon — which has been allocated US$170 million for budget year 2008[5] — and its predecessors maintain the United States' capability to develop a spaceplane quickly, should the need arise.
FALCON
The overall FALCON program announced in 2003 had two major components: a small launch vehicle for carrying payloads to orbit or launching the hypersonic weapons platform payload, and the hypersonic vehicle itself.[1]
Small Launch Vehicle
The DARPA FALCON solicitation in 2003 asked for bidders to do development work on proposed vehicles in a first phase of work, then one or more vendors would be selected to build and fly an actual launch vehicle. Companies which won first phase development contracts of $350,000 to $540,000 in November 2003 included:[6]
AirLaunch LLC, Reno Nevada
Andrews Space Inc., Seattle Washington
Exquadrum Inc., Victorville California
KT Engineering, Huntsville Alabama
Lockheed Martin Corp., New Orleans Louisiana
Microcosm Inc., El Segundo California
Orbital Sciences Corp., Dulles Virginia
Schafer Corp., Chelmsford Massachusetts
Space Exploration Technologies, El Segundo California
Phase two for the SLV was won by Air Launch LLC, with a $17.8 million contract awarded in 2005 which provided for further test and development of their QuickReach air-dropped launch vehicle contract.[citation needed]
Additionally, in related Phase two work, DARPA purchased a flight of the Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) Falcon 1 launch vehicle which was already under commercial development at the time, for approximately $6 million. The vehicle name and program name were coincidentally the same, but the Falcon launch vehicle predated the DARPA program, having started in 2002 with the founding of SpaceX.[citation needed]
Hypersonic Weapon System
The first phase of the hypersonic weapon system development was won by three bidders in 2003, each receiving a $1.2 to $1.5 million contract for hypersonic vehicle development:[6]
Andrews Space Inc., Seattle, Wash.
Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Palmdale, Calif.
Northrop Grumman Corp., Air Combat Systems, El Segundo, Calif.
Lockheed Martin received the only Phase 2 HWS contract in 2004, to develop technologies further and reduce technology risk on the program.[citation needed]
Follow on hypersonic program
Illustration of HTV-2 from DARPA
Following the Phase 2 contract, DARPA and the US Air Force continued to develop the hypersonic vehicle platform.
The program was to follow a set of flight tests with a series of hypersonic technology vehicles.[7]
The FALCON project includes:
X-41 Common Aero Vehicle (CAV) — a common aerial platform for hypersonic ICBMs and cruise missiles, as well as civilian RLVs and ELVs.
Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-1 (HTV-1) — a test concept, originally planned to fly in September 2007, now canceled.[8]
HTV-2 — first flew on 22 April 2010, but contact was lost soon after booster separation[9][10][11]
HTV-3X — Blackswift, now canceled
Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) — a smaller engine to power CAVs, now complete
The Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle (HCV) would be able to fly 9,000 nautical miles (17,000 km) in 2 hours with a payload of 12,000 lb (5,500 kg).[12] It is to fly at a high altitudes and achieve speeds of up to Mach 6.
Blackswift
The Blackswift was a proposed aircraft capable of hypersonic flight designed by the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, Boeing, and ATK.[13]
The USAF states "The Falcon Blackswift flight demonstration vehicle will be powered by a combination turbine engine and ramjet, an all-in-one power plant. The turbine engine accelerates the vehicle to around Mach 3 before the ramjet takes over and boosts the vehicle up to Mach 6."[14] Dr. Stephen Walker, the Deputy Director of DARPA's Tactical Technology Office, will be coordinating the project. He told the USAF website,
I will also be communicating to Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney on how important it is that we get the technical plan in place ... I'm trying to build the bridge at the beginning of the program — to get the communication path flowing.
The Falcon program has announced the Mach 6 horizontal take-off Blackswift/HTV-3X. It is also launching the HTV-2 off the top of a rocket booster.[15] Falcon seems to be converging from two directions, on the ultimate goal of producing a hypersonic aircraft which can take off and land from a runway in the USA, and be anywhere in the world in an hour or two. Falcon is methodically proceeding toward a Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle. Dr. Walker said,
We need to fly some hypersonic vehicles — first the expendables, then the reusables — in order to prove to decision makers that this isn't just a dream… We won't overcome the skepticism until we see some hypersonic vehicles flying.
The HTV-3X activates its turbojets in transonic flight…
…then ignites its scramjets for the hypersonic phase
Simulation of the Falcon HTV-3X[16]
HTV-3X on approach to Edwards Air Force Base
In October 2008 it was announced that HTV-3X or Blackswift did not receive needed funding in the fiscal year 2009 defense budget and had been canceled. The Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle program will continue with reduced funding.[2][17]
Flight testing
Flight Test trajectories for HTV 2a and 2b
DARPA intends to assemble two HTV-2s and conduct two flight tests in 2010 and 2011. Each HTV-2 flight will be launched by a Minotaur IV Lite rocket. DARPA will use the flights to demonstrate thermal protection systems and aerodynamic control features.[2] Test flights are supported by NASA, the Space and Missile Systems Center, Lockheed Martin, Sandia National Laboratories and the Air Force Research Laboratory's (AFRL) Air Vehicles and Space Vehicles Directorates.
The first HTV-2 flight was launched by a Minotaur IV rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base on 22 April 2010.[9] The HTV-2 glider was to fly 4,800 miles (7,700 km) across the Pacific to Kwajalein at Mach 20.[15] Although the launch was successful, this first mission appears to be a failure. Initial reports said that contact had been lost with the vehicle nine minutes into the mission.[18][19] In mid-November DARPA revealed, however, that the test flight had ended when the computer autopilot had "commanded flight termination." According to a DARPA spokesman, "When the onboard system detects [undesirable or unsafe flight] behavior, it forces itself into a controlled roll and pitchover to descend directly into the ocean." Reviews found that the plane had begun to roll violently.[20] A second flight is planned for early 2011.[18]
See also
Rockwell X-30 (National AeroSpace Plane)
Boeing X-51
Prompt Global Strike
References
1.^ a b FALCON Force Application and Launch from CONUS Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) PHASE I Proposer Information Pamphlet (PIP) for BAA Solicitation 03-35. DARPA, 2003.
2.^ a b c "Falcon Technology Demonstration Program HTV-3X Blackswift Test Bed". DARPA, October 2008.
3.^ Isinglass. astronautix.com
4.^ Cooper Testimony. tgv-rockets.com
5.^ Space Weapons Spending in the FY 2008 Defense Budget. cdi.org
6.^ a b USAF DARPA FALCON Program. Air-attack.com. Retrieved: 2009-04-02.
7.^ "Falcon Technology Demonstration Program: Fact Sheet ". DARPA, January 2006.
8.^ "US hypersonic aircraft projects face change as Congress urges joint technology office". Flight International, 30 May 2006.
9.^ a b "First Minotaur IV Lite launches from Vandenberg". U.S. Air Force, 22 April 2010.
10.^ "US hypersonic glider flunks first test flight ". AFP news agency, 27 March 2010.
11.^ Graham Warwick (April 2010-04-24). "DARPA's HTV-2 Didn't Phone Home". Aviation Week. Retrieved 2010-05-23.
12.^ "Propulsion, Materials Test Successes Put Positive Spin on Falcon Prospects". Aviation Week, 22 July 2007.
13.^ Warwick, Graham (24 July 2008)"Boeing Joins Lockheed Martin On Blackswift". Aviation Week, 24 July 2008. Retrieved: 28 March 2010.
14.^ Lorenz III, Philip (17 May 2007). "DARPA official: AEDC 'critical' to hypersonics advancement". Arnold Air Force Base. Retrieved 28 March 2000.
15.^ a b Little, Geoffrey. "Mach 20 or Bust, Weapons research may yet produce a true spaceplane". Air & Space Magazine, September 1, 2007.
16.^ DARPA promotional video of HTV-3X
17.^ Trimble, Stephen. "DARPA cancels Blackswift hypersonic test bed". Flight Global, 13 October 2008. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
18.^ a b Clark, Stephen. "New Minotaur rocket launches on suborbital flight". spaceflightnow.com, April 23, 2010.
19.^ Waterman, Shaun, "Flameout May End Space Weapon Plan", Washington Times, July 23, 2010, p. 1.
20.^ Waterman, Shaun (November 25, 2010). "Pentagon to test 2nd near-space strike craft". The Washington Times. Retrieved November 30, 2010.
And thus ends the spaceplane craze that re-started in the 1980s.
From astronautix.com:
X-40
X-40A
Credit: NASA
American spaceplane. Study 2001. Boeing X-40A Experimental Space Maneuver Vehicle was built to test landing technologies for the later X-37.
The X-40A successfully completed a series of seven approach and landing tests at NASA Dryden in 2000 and 2001. About 20 percent smaller than the X-37, the X-40A was released from a helicopter at 4600 m during the series of unpowered glide flights. These flights validated the autonomous flight control system planned for the X-37, thereby reducing the risk of the X-37 program.
Height: 6.71 m (22.01 ft).
Span: 3.66 m (12.00 ft).
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Associated Countries •USA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
See also •Spaceplane
•Suborbital
•US Rocketplanes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Associated Manufacturers and Agencies •Boeing American manufacturer of rockets, spacecraft, and rocket engines. Boeing Aerospace, Seattle, USA. More...
*************************************************************
The Kelly Astroliner
from Astronautix.com:
Astroliner
American manned rocketplane. Study 2002. The Kelly Space & Technology Astroliner Space Launch System was a two-stage-to-orbit, towed space launch concept.
Towing an aerodynamic vehicle to an altitude of 6,000 m yielded higher system performance due to vacuum engine performance, reduced drag and gravity losses, and aerodynamic lift during flight.
After separation from the 747 towing aircraft at 6,000 m and Mach 0.8, the Astroliner would boost itself to 2750 m/s and 110 km altitude before releasing an expendable upper stage (4.2 m diameter x 7.6 m long) and payload (4.85 meter diameter x 7.56 meter long). The upper stage was capable of delivering a 5,000 kg payload into a 185 km 28.5° orbit at a cost per launch of $ 22 million - 40% of the cost of existing launchers.
Following release of the upper stage, Astroliner would continue on its suborbital trajectory, re-enter the atmosphere, and land at a conventional runway. The contemporary Pioneer Rocketplane Pathfinder design of the same period had a similar approached, but used aerial refueling instead of towing to reach a similar launch point. The first operational flight for the Astroliner was planned in 1999 for early 2002.
Characteristics
Crew Size: 1.
Height: 48.00 m (157.00 ft).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Associated Countries •USA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
See also •Low earth orbit
•Manned
•Rocketplane
•US Rocketplanes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Associated Launch Vehicles •Astroliner American air-launched orbital launch vehicle. The Kelly Space & Technology Astroliner Space Launch System was a two-stage-to-orbit, towed space launch concept. Towing an aerodynamic vehicle to an altitude of 6,000 m yielded higher system performance due to vacuum engine performance, reduced drag and gravity losses, and aerodynamic lift during flight. More...
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Associated Manufacturers and Agencies •Kelly American manufacturer of rockets and spacecraft. Kelly Space and Technology, USA. More...
****************************************************************
the Lockheed X-33 Venture Star
from astronautix.com:
Venturestar
American manned spaceplane. Study 2006. Production reusable single-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle using technology developed in X-33 testbed.
Crew Size: 1.
Gross mass: 991,000 kg (2,184,000 lb).
Height: 39.70 m (130.20 ft).
Thrust: 13,386.00 kN (3,009,292 lbf).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Associated Countries •USA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
See also •Low earth orbit
•Manned
•Spaceplane
•US Rocketplanes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Associated Launch Vehicles •Venturestar American SSTO winged orbital launch vehicle. Production reusable single-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle using technology developed in X-33 testbed. More...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Associated Manufacturers and Agencies •Lockheed American manufacturer of rockets, spacecraft, and rocket engines. Lockheed Martin, Sunnyvale, CA, USA. More...
From youtube:
And this, from Wikipedia:
Lockheed Martin X-33
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2011)
X-33
Simulated in-flight view of the X-33
Function: Unmanned Re-usable Spaceplane technology demonstrator
Manufacturer: Lockheed Martin
Country of origin: United States
Size
Height: 20 m[1] (69 ft)
Diameter: N/A
Mass: 285,000 lb[1] (130,000 kg)
Stages: 1
Capacity
Launch history
Status: Canceled (2001)
Launch sites: Edwards Air Force Base
Total launches: 0
First stage - X-33
Engines: 2 J-2S Linear Aerospikes[1]
Thrust: 410,000 lbf[1] (1.82 MN)
Burn time Fuel: LOX/LH2
The Lockheed Martin X-33 was an unmanned, sub-scale technology demonstrator suborbital spaceplane developed in the 1990s under the U.S. government-funded Space Launch Initiative program. The X-33 was a technology demonstrator for the VentureStar orbital spaceplane, which was planned to be a next-generation, commercially-operated reusable launch vehicle. The X-33 would flight-test a range of technologies that NASA believed it needed for single-stage-to-orbit reusable launch vehicles (SSTO RLVs), such as metallic thermal protection systems, composite cryogenic fuel tanks for liquid hydrogen, the aerospike engine, autonomous (unmanned) flight control, rapid flight turn-around times through streamlined operations, and its lifting body aerodynamics.
Failures led to the cancellation of the program as a federal program in 2001, but Lockheed Martin has conducted related testing, and has had successes as recently as 2009.[2]
Design and development
Through the use of the lifting body shape, composite liquid fuel tanks, and the aerospike engine, NASA and Lockheed Martin hoped to test fly a craft that would demonstrate the viability of a single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) design. An SSTO craft would not require external fuel tanks or boosters to reach low-earth orbit. Doing away with the need for "staging" with launch vehicles, such as with the Shuttle and the Apollo rockets, would lead to an inherently more reliable and safer space launch vehicle. While the X-33 would not approach airplane-like safety, the X-33 would attempt to demonstrate that 0.997 reliability, or 3 mishaps out of 1,000 launches, which would be an order of magnitude more reliable than the Space Shuttle system, was achievable. The 15 planned experimental X-33 flights could only begin this statistical evaluation.
X-33 launch facility already completed at Edwards Air Force Base.
The unmanned craft would have been launched vertically from a specially designed facility constructed on Edwards Air Force Base,[3] and landed horizontally (VTHL) on a runway at the end of its mission. Initial sub-orbital test flights were planned from Edwards AFB to Dugway Proving Grounds southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah. Once those test flights were completed, further flight tests were to be conducted from Edwards AFB to Malmstrom AFB in Great Falls, Montana, to gather more complete data on aircraft heating and engine performance at higher speeds and altitudes.[citation needed]
On July 2, 1996, NASA selected Lockheed Martin Skunk Works of Palmdale, California, to design, build, and test the X-33 experimental vehicle for the RLV program. Lockheed Martin's design concept for the X-33 was selected over competing designs from Boeing and McDonnell Douglas. Boeing featured a Space Shuttle-derived design, and McDonnell Douglas featured a design based on its vertical takeoff and landing (VTVL) DC-XA test vehicle.
The X-33 was never intended to fly higher than an altitude of 100 km, nor faster than one-half of orbital velocity. Had any successful tests occurred, extrapolation would have been necessary to apply the results to a proposed orbital vehicle.[4]
Commercial spaceflight
Based on the X-33 experience shared with NASA, Lockheed Martin hoped to make the business case for a full-scale SSTO RLV, called VentureStar, that would be developed and operated through commercial means. The intention was that rather than operate space transport systems as it has with the Space Shuttle, NASA would instead look to private industry to operate the reusable launch vehicle and NASA would purchase launch services from the commercial launch provider. Thus, the X-33 was not only about honing space flight technologies, but also about successfully demonstrating the technology required to make a commercial reusable launch vehicle possible.
The VentureStar was to be the first commercial aircraft to fly into space. The unmanned X-33 was slated to fly 15 suborbital hops to near 75.8 km altitude.[4] It was to be launched upright like a rocket and rather than having a straight flight path it would fly diagonally up for half the flight, reaching extremely high altitudes, and then back down for the rest of the flight. The VentureStar was intended for long inter-continental flights and supposed to be in service by 2012, but this project was never funded or begun.[citation needed]
Aerospike engine test at Stennis Space Center, August 6, 2001
The decision to design and build the X-33 grew out of an internal NASA study titled "Access to Space".[5] Unlike other space transport studies, "Access to Space" was to result in the design and construction of a vehicle.
NASA Cancellation
Construction of the prototype was some 85% assembled with 96% of the parts and the launch facility 100%[3] complete when the program was canceled by NASA in 2001, after a long series of technical difficulties including flight instability and excess weight.
In particular, the composite liquid hydrogen fuel tank failed during testing in November 1999. The tank was constructed of honeycomb composite walls and internal structures to reduce its weight. A lighter tank was needed for the craft to demonstrate necessary technologies for single-stage-to-orbit operations. A hydrogen fueled SSTO craft's mass fraction requires that the weight of the vehicle without fuel be 10% of the fully-fueled weight. This would allow for a vehicle to fly to low earth orbit without the need for the sort of external boosters and fuel tanks used by the Space Shuttle. But, after the composite tank failed on the test stand during fueling and pressure tests, NASA came to the conclusion that the technology of the time was simply not advanced enough for such a design. While the composite tank walls themselves were lighter, the odd hydrogen tank shape resulted in complex joints increasing the total mass of the composite tank to above that of an aluminum-based tank.[6]
NASA had invested $922 million in the project before cancellation and Lockheed Martin a further $357 million. Due to changes in the space launch business—including the challenges faced by companies such as Globalstar, Teledesic, and Iridium and the resulting drop in the number of anticipated commercial satellite launches per year—Lockheed Martin deemed that continuing development of the X-33 privately without government support would not be profitable.
Continued research
After the cancellation in 2001, engineers were able to make a working liquid oxygen tank out of carbon fiber composite.
On September 7, 2004, Northrop Grumman and NASA engineers unveiled a liquid hydrogen tank made of carbon fiber composite material that had demonstrated the ability for repeated fuelings and simulated launch cycles.[7] Northrop Grumman concluded that these successful tests have enabled the development and refinement of new manufacturing processes that will allow the company to build large composite tanks without an autoclave; and design and engineering development of conformal fuel tanks appropriate for use on a single-stage-to-orbit vehicle.[8]
Lockheed Martin has been testing a new and different 1/5 scale rocket described to be similar in capabilities and design, known now simply as a "Space Reusable Launch Vehicle". Two tests were conducted secretly at the Spaceport America in New Mexico. The first on December 19, 2007 was billed as a complete success, while the August 12, 2008 launch ended in an irreparable crash after 12.5 seconds of flight.[9][10][11] A third test on October 10, 2009, was another success.[2]
Notable appearances in popular media
In Dan Brown's 2000 novel Angels & Demons, CERN, the nuclear physics research laboratory, owns a "Boeing X-33" [sic], which is capable of Mach 15, and of flying from Boston to Switzerland in less than an hour.[12] It is also mentioned in his novel Deception Point.[Full citation needed]
See also
Spaceplane
Skylon
References
1.^ a b c d "NASA:X-33 Historical Fact Sheet (wikisource)". Retrieved 2007-04-22.
2.^ a b David, Leonard (15 Oct 2009). "Reusable rocket plane soars in test flight". MSNBC. Retrieved 27 Oct 2009.
3.^ a b "X-33 Launch Complex (Area 1-54)" (PDF). USAF.
4.^ a b "Environmental Impact Statement, Notice of Intent 96-118". NASA. October 7, 1996. "Flight tests would involve speeds of up to Mach 15 and altitudes up to approximately 75,800 meters ... The test program is currently baselined for a combined total of 15 flights."
5.^ "The Policy Origins of the X-33". NASA. September 23, 1998.
6.^ Bergin, Chris (January 4, 2006). "X-33/VentureStar - What really happened". NASASpaceFlight.com.
7.^ Northrop Grumman. "Northrop Grumman, NASA Complete Testing of Prototype Composite Cryogenic Fuel Tank", News Releases, September 7, 2004, accessed April 27, 2011.
8.^ Black, Sara (November 2005). "An update on composite tanks for cryogens". High-Performance Composites.
9.^ "Lockheed loses prototype of Space reusable launch vehicle". Domain-B. August 18, 2008.
10.^ David, Leonard (April 24, 2008). "Lockheed Test Flies Space Plane Prototype". Space.com.
11.^ David, Leonard (August 15, 2008). "Space Plane Prototype Suffers Anomaly in Launch Test". SPACE.com.
12.^ "Angels and Demons". CERN.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: X-33
X-33 History Project page on NASA.gov
X-33 project article on Nasaspaceflight.com
Federation of American Scientists
"Status of the X-33 Reusable Launch Vehicle Program"PDF, GAO, August 1999.
X-33 cancellation press release, NASA, March 1, 2001.
X-33 Launch Complex (Area 1-54)PDF
********************************************************
The DARPA FALCON Project
from Wikipedia:
DARPA Falcon Project
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Illustration of Hypersonic Test Vehicle (HTV) 2 reentry phase
The DARPA Falcon Project (Force Application and Launch from Continental United States) is a two-part joint project between the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the United States Air Force (USAF). One part of the program aims to develop a reusable, rapid-strike Hypersonic Weapon System (HWS), now retitled the Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle (HCV), and the other is for the development of a launch system capable of accelerating a HCV to cruise speeds, as well as launching small satellites into earth orbit. This two-part program was announced in 2003 and continued into 2006.[1]
The latest project to be announced under the Falcon banner was a fighter-sized unmanned aircraft called "Blackswift" which would take off from a runway and accelerate to Mach 6 before completing its mission and landing again. The memo of understanding between DARPA and the USAF on Blackswift — also known as the HTV-3X — was signed in September 2007. The Blackswift HTV-3X did not receive needed funding and was canceled in October 2008.[2]
Current research under FALCON program is centered around X-41 Common Aero Vehicle (CAV), a common aerial platform for hypersonic ICBMs and cruise missiles, as well as civilian RLVs and ELVs. The prototype Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-2 (HTV-2) first flew on 22 April 2010; further tests are scheduled for 2011.
Design and development
Past projects
The aim was always to be able to deploy a craft from the continental United States, which could reach anywhere on the planet within an hour or two. The X-20 Dyna-Soar in 1957 was the first publicly acknowledged program — although this would have been launched vertically on a rocket and then glided back to Earth, as the Space Shuttle does, rather than taking off from a runway. Originally, the Shuttle was envisaged as a part-USAF operation, and separate military launch facilities were built at Vandenberg AFB at great cost, though never used. After the open DynaSoar USAF program from 1957–1963, spaceplanes went black. In the mid 1960s, the CIA began work on a high-Mach spyplane called Project Isinglass. This developed into Rheinberry, a design for a Mach-17 air-launched reconnaissance aircraft, which was later canceled.[3] Black spending on spaceplanes probably peaked in the 1980s during the Strategic Defense Initiative when Science Dawn, Have Region and Copper Canyon focused efforts on building a spaceplane that could take off from a runway like an aircraft. In 1986, that emerged back into the white world, with President Ronald Reagan's announcement of the National AeroSpace Plane (NASP). When that project was canceled in 1992, the spaceplane efforts went black again, until the USAF announced FALCON in 2003, although FALCON at least initially was aimed to build smaller unmanned vehicles.[citation needed]
According to Henry F. Cooper, who was the Director of the Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars) under President Reagan, spaceplane projects swallowed $4 billion in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s (excluding the Space Shuttle). This does not include the 1950 and 1960s budgets for the Dynasoar, ISINGLASS, Rheinberry, and any 21st-century spaceplane project which might emerge under Falcon. He told the United States Congress in 2001 that all the United States had in return for those billions of dollars was "one crashed vehicle, a hangar queen, some drop-test articles and static displays".[4] Others would argue that Falcon — which has been allocated US$170 million for budget year 2008[5] — and its predecessors maintain the United States' capability to develop a spaceplane quickly, should the need arise.
FALCON
The overall FALCON program announced in 2003 had two major components: a small launch vehicle for carrying payloads to orbit or launching the hypersonic weapons platform payload, and the hypersonic vehicle itself.[1]
Small Launch Vehicle
The DARPA FALCON solicitation in 2003 asked for bidders to do development work on proposed vehicles in a first phase of work, then one or more vendors would be selected to build and fly an actual launch vehicle. Companies which won first phase development contracts of $350,000 to $540,000 in November 2003 included:[6]
AirLaunch LLC, Reno Nevada
Andrews Space Inc., Seattle Washington
Exquadrum Inc., Victorville California
KT Engineering, Huntsville Alabama
Lockheed Martin Corp., New Orleans Louisiana
Microcosm Inc., El Segundo California
Orbital Sciences Corp., Dulles Virginia
Schafer Corp., Chelmsford Massachusetts
Space Exploration Technologies, El Segundo California
Phase two for the SLV was won by Air Launch LLC, with a $17.8 million contract awarded in 2005 which provided for further test and development of their QuickReach air-dropped launch vehicle contract.[citation needed]
Additionally, in related Phase two work, DARPA purchased a flight of the Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) Falcon 1 launch vehicle which was already under commercial development at the time, for approximately $6 million. The vehicle name and program name were coincidentally the same, but the Falcon launch vehicle predated the DARPA program, having started in 2002 with the founding of SpaceX.[citation needed]
Hypersonic Weapon System
The first phase of the hypersonic weapon system development was won by three bidders in 2003, each receiving a $1.2 to $1.5 million contract for hypersonic vehicle development:[6]
Andrews Space Inc., Seattle, Wash.
Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Palmdale, Calif.
Northrop Grumman Corp., Air Combat Systems, El Segundo, Calif.
Lockheed Martin received the only Phase 2 HWS contract in 2004, to develop technologies further and reduce technology risk on the program.[citation needed]
Follow on hypersonic program
Illustration of HTV-2 from DARPA
Following the Phase 2 contract, DARPA and the US Air Force continued to develop the hypersonic vehicle platform.
The program was to follow a set of flight tests with a series of hypersonic technology vehicles.[7]
The FALCON project includes:
X-41 Common Aero Vehicle (CAV) — a common aerial platform for hypersonic ICBMs and cruise missiles, as well as civilian RLVs and ELVs.
Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-1 (HTV-1) — a test concept, originally planned to fly in September 2007, now canceled.[8]
HTV-2 — first flew on 22 April 2010, but contact was lost soon after booster separation[9][10][11]
HTV-3X — Blackswift, now canceled
Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) — a smaller engine to power CAVs, now complete
The Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle (HCV) would be able to fly 9,000 nautical miles (17,000 km) in 2 hours with a payload of 12,000 lb (5,500 kg).[12] It is to fly at a high altitudes and achieve speeds of up to Mach 6.
Blackswift
The Blackswift was a proposed aircraft capable of hypersonic flight designed by the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, Boeing, and ATK.[13]
The USAF states "The Falcon Blackswift flight demonstration vehicle will be powered by a combination turbine engine and ramjet, an all-in-one power plant. The turbine engine accelerates the vehicle to around Mach 3 before the ramjet takes over and boosts the vehicle up to Mach 6."[14] Dr. Stephen Walker, the Deputy Director of DARPA's Tactical Technology Office, will be coordinating the project. He told the USAF website,
I will also be communicating to Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney on how important it is that we get the technical plan in place ... I'm trying to build the bridge at the beginning of the program — to get the communication path flowing.
The Falcon program has announced the Mach 6 horizontal take-off Blackswift/HTV-3X. It is also launching the HTV-2 off the top of a rocket booster.[15] Falcon seems to be converging from two directions, on the ultimate goal of producing a hypersonic aircraft which can take off and land from a runway in the USA, and be anywhere in the world in an hour or two. Falcon is methodically proceeding toward a Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle. Dr. Walker said,
We need to fly some hypersonic vehicles — first the expendables, then the reusables — in order to prove to decision makers that this isn't just a dream… We won't overcome the skepticism until we see some hypersonic vehicles flying.
The HTV-3X activates its turbojets in transonic flight…
…then ignites its scramjets for the hypersonic phase
Simulation of the Falcon HTV-3X[16]
HTV-3X on approach to Edwards Air Force Base
In October 2008 it was announced that HTV-3X or Blackswift did not receive needed funding in the fiscal year 2009 defense budget and had been canceled. The Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle program will continue with reduced funding.[2][17]
Flight testing
Flight Test trajectories for HTV 2a and 2b
DARPA intends to assemble two HTV-2s and conduct two flight tests in 2010 and 2011. Each HTV-2 flight will be launched by a Minotaur IV Lite rocket. DARPA will use the flights to demonstrate thermal protection systems and aerodynamic control features.[2] Test flights are supported by NASA, the Space and Missile Systems Center, Lockheed Martin, Sandia National Laboratories and the Air Force Research Laboratory's (AFRL) Air Vehicles and Space Vehicles Directorates.
The first HTV-2 flight was launched by a Minotaur IV rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base on 22 April 2010.[9] The HTV-2 glider was to fly 4,800 miles (7,700 km) across the Pacific to Kwajalein at Mach 20.[15] Although the launch was successful, this first mission appears to be a failure. Initial reports said that contact had been lost with the vehicle nine minutes into the mission.[18][19] In mid-November DARPA revealed, however, that the test flight had ended when the computer autopilot had "commanded flight termination." According to a DARPA spokesman, "When the onboard system detects [undesirable or unsafe flight] behavior, it forces itself into a controlled roll and pitchover to descend directly into the ocean." Reviews found that the plane had begun to roll violently.[20] A second flight is planned for early 2011.[18]
See also
Rockwell X-30 (National AeroSpace Plane)
Boeing X-51
Prompt Global Strike
References
1.^ a b FALCON Force Application and Launch from CONUS Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) PHASE I Proposer Information Pamphlet (PIP) for BAA Solicitation 03-35. DARPA, 2003.
2.^ a b c "Falcon Technology Demonstration Program HTV-3X Blackswift Test Bed". DARPA, October 2008.
3.^ Isinglass. astronautix.com
4.^ Cooper Testimony. tgv-rockets.com
5.^ Space Weapons Spending in the FY 2008 Defense Budget. cdi.org
6.^ a b USAF DARPA FALCON Program. Air-attack.com. Retrieved: 2009-04-02.
7.^ "Falcon Technology Demonstration Program: Fact Sheet ". DARPA, January 2006.
8.^ "US hypersonic aircraft projects face change as Congress urges joint technology office". Flight International, 30 May 2006.
9.^ a b "First Minotaur IV Lite launches from Vandenberg". U.S. Air Force, 22 April 2010.
10.^ "US hypersonic glider flunks first test flight ". AFP news agency, 27 March 2010.
11.^ Graham Warwick (April 2010-04-24). "DARPA's HTV-2 Didn't Phone Home". Aviation Week. Retrieved 2010-05-23.
12.^ "Propulsion, Materials Test Successes Put Positive Spin on Falcon Prospects". Aviation Week, 22 July 2007.
13.^ Warwick, Graham (24 July 2008)"Boeing Joins Lockheed Martin On Blackswift". Aviation Week, 24 July 2008. Retrieved: 28 March 2010.
14.^ Lorenz III, Philip (17 May 2007). "DARPA official: AEDC 'critical' to hypersonics advancement". Arnold Air Force Base. Retrieved 28 March 2000.
15.^ a b Little, Geoffrey. "Mach 20 or Bust, Weapons research may yet produce a true spaceplane". Air & Space Magazine, September 1, 2007.
16.^ DARPA promotional video of HTV-3X
17.^ Trimble, Stephen. "DARPA cancels Blackswift hypersonic test bed". Flight Global, 13 October 2008. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
18.^ a b Clark, Stephen. "New Minotaur rocket launches on suborbital flight". spaceflightnow.com, April 23, 2010.
19.^ Waterman, Shaun, "Flameout May End Space Weapon Plan", Washington Times, July 23, 2010, p. 1.
20.^ Waterman, Shaun (November 25, 2010). "Pentagon to test 2nd near-space strike craft". The Washington Times. Retrieved November 30, 2010.
And thus ends the spaceplane craze that re-started in the 1980s.
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