DAMAGED LIQUID HYDROGEN TANK EXPECTED TO DELAY X-33 PROGRAM EVEN FURTHER.Byline: Jonathan Lipman States News Service Although an official investigative team has yet to even approach a damaged liquid hydrogen Liquid hydrogen is the liquid state of the element hydrogen. It is a common liquid rocket fuel for rocket applications. In the aerospace industry, its name is often abbreviated to LH2 or LH2. tank for the X-33, a Lockheed Martin For the former company, see . Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is a leading multinational aerospace manufacturer and advanced technology company formed in 1995 by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta. spokesman said that another delay for the program, already nearly a year behind schedule, is likely. ``I think it's logical that there will be a delay, but how long a delay is yet to be determined,'' the spokesman said on condition of anonymity. NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. headquarters had no official comment on the tank failure's impact on the program. Administrator Dan Goldin has asked the test failure investigation team forming at Marshall Space Center in Alabama Alabama, indigenous people of North America Alabama (ăləbăm`ə), indigenous people of North America whose language belongs to the Muskogean branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). for a ``recovery plan,'' said headquarters spokesman Jim Cast. The X-33 was originally scheduled to launch this year, but that was delayed to the summer of 2000 after the program ran into technical problems. A report by the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, said that the delays are costing the federal government, despite the fact that the government's share of the cost is fixed in its agreement with project partner Lockheed Martin. Last Wednesday, after a full day of testing, the outer skin on one of the four ``lobe lobe (lob) 1. a more or less well-defined portion of an organ or gland. 2. one of the main divisions of a tooth crown. skins,'' or metal-composite panels, on the starboard tank pulled away from the inner skin of the tank. The failure was similar to a problem that surfaced last December when one of the tank's metal skins peeled away when it was being ``bonded'' to the rest of the tank in high heat. However, last week's problem occurred when the tank was extremely cold. After testing both the pressure and the load-bearing ability of the tank successfully, technicians were draining the tank of liquid hydrogen, a fuel that must be kept at 423 degrees below zero Fahrenheit Fahr·en·heit adj. Abbr. F Of or relating to a temperature scale that registers the freezing point of water as 32°F and the boiling point as 212°F at one atmosphere of pressure. . Frost had condensed con·dense v. con·densed, con·dens·ing, con·dens·es v.tr. 1. To reduce the volume or compass of. 2. To make more concise; abridge or shorten. 3. Physics a. on the outside of the tank, which was normal. ``Most of the crew had gone home for the evening,'' the Lockheed spokesman said. ``As they were collecting data, one of the technicians caught out of the corner of his eye all that frost shaking off the tank and falling to the ground.'' The technicians panned around the area with remote-controlled video cameras and discovered damage to ``lobe skin one'' - the upper-left panel of the starboard hydrogen tank. Starting Tuesday, the joint Lockheed-NASA team began putting scaffolding up around the tank, being careful to avoid further damage that could confuse con·fuse v. con·fused, con·fus·ing, con·fus·es v.tr. 1. a. To cause to be unable to think with clarity or act with intelligence or understanding; throw off. b. the investigation. |
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