Caldwell Internet Express
  Caldwell Internet Express
     4307 Vergie Avenue
 Beltsville, MD 20705-1511		  Voice:(301) 937-1891
    Fax:(301) 937-1934
EMAIL jody@calix.com

Please support these pages by visiting our sponsor!

[Prev][Next][Index]

With Ground Tests Complete, DC-XA to Resume Flights This Month

Jim Cast
Headquarters, Washington, DC                    May 8, 1996
(Phone:  202/358-1779)

Dom Amatore
Marshall Space Flight Center, Hunstville, AL
(Phone:  205/544-0031)

RELEASE:  96-92

WITH GROUND TESTS COMPLETE, DC-XA TO RESUME FLIGHTS THIS MONTH

     The Delta Clipper-Experimental Advanced (DC-XA), a 
single stage rocket developed by NASA and McDonnell Douglas 
Aerospace, yesterday completed a series of ground tests at 
the U.S. Army White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, and now 
is being readied for flight.  

     The DC-XA will undergo a series of five flight tests 
beginning no earlier than May 17.  The date for the first 
test will be determined later this week.

     "Flight testing the DC-XA will provide information about 
the performance of composite materials and other advanced 
technologies in the launch vehicle as it encounters the 
conditions of flight, such as temperature, pressure and 
noise.  This information will be very valuable for the X-33 
technology demonstrator NASA and an industry partner will 
develop in the future," said Dan Dumbacher, NASA's DC-XA 
program manager at the Marshall Space Flight Center, 
Huntsville, AL.  Marshall is the host center for NASA's 
Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Program.  The U.S. Air 
Force's Phillips Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base, New 
Mexico, will manage flight test operations.

     The DC-XA evolved from the DC-X, which the U.S. Air 
Force flew eight times between August 1993 and July 1995.  
The 43-foot-high existing airframe was extensively modified 
by replacing existing systems with a composite hydrogen tank; 
a Russian-built aluminum-lithium alloy liquid oxygen tank; a 
composite intertank to connect the hydrogen and oxygen tanks; 
and an auxiliary propulsion system which includes a composite 
liquid hydrogen feedline, a composite liquid hydrogen valve, 
a liquid-to-gas conversion system reaction control system, 
and a Russian auxiliary power unit providing redundant 
hydraulic power for flight control.

     "When DC-XA lifts off from its launch stand, it will be 
the first time a rocket has flown with a composite hydrogen 
tank.  This innovation and the many other technology 
enhancements included in the vehicle will make its flight 
testing very challenging," said Dumbacher.  

     Ground testing of the DC-XA exercised all of the vehicle 
subsystems and showed the vehicle is ready for flight, 
Dumbacher said.  It  included three firings of DC-XA's main 
propulsion system, between three and 20 seconds in duration, 
and up to 95 percent thrust level.

     McDonnell Douglas is supported in the preparation of DC-
XA for flight by Aerojet, prime developer of the auxiliary 
propulsion system; Lockheed Martin Corporation, developer of 
the ground propellant system, and by Rockwell International, 
which provided an acoustic structural health monitoring 
system for the hydrogen tank.

     The DC-XA, X-34 and X-33, and related long term 
technology development efforts, comprise NASA's Reusable 
Launch Vehicle Technology Program, a partnership among NASA, 
the Air Force and private industry to develop a new 
generation of single-stage-to-orbit launch vehicles.  The X-
34, a small technology demonstrator, will undergo test flight 
in 1998 while the X-33 large technology demonstrator is 
planned for test flight in 1999.  Success of the X-33 could 
lead to a national, industry-led decision to develop a 
commercial reusable launch vehicle early next century.  Such 
a vehicle would dramatically reduce the cost of launching 
payloads into space.

NOTE TO REPORTERS/EDITORS:

     A news media briefing on DC-XA will be broadcast on NASA 
TV at 2 p.m. EDT on Monday, May 13.  The briefing will 
originate from Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL.  
Participants will be Gary Payton, Reusable Launch Vehicle 
Technology Program director; Dan Dumbacher, NASA DC-XA 
program manager; Dave Schweikle, McDonnell Douglas DC-XA 
program manager; and Lt. Col. Jess Sponable, USAF, NASA 
deputy for Flight Test Operations.

     Viewing of the planned May 17 flight test is not 
available to the general public.  News media representatives 
may attend by pre-registering with the White Sands Missile 
Range Public Affairs Office; accreditation must be requested 
in writing.  The mailing address is:  Public Affairs Office, 
Building 122, White Sands Missile Range, NM, 88002.  The 
office facsimile machine number is 505/678-7174.  

     All frequency transmissions are restricted within White 
Sands Missile Range.  Anyone using any kind of equipment 
which transmits a signal (i.e. satellite equipment, microwave 
equipment, cellular telephones, wireless microphones, etc.) 
must have prior approval from the missile range's Department 
of Defense Area Frequency Coordinator, Tom Banks, at 505/678-
1510.  Requests must be submitted no later than May 14.

                    - end -