GEARING UP FOR MOON TRIP NASA SLATES EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT TESTS.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE - Flight tests will be conducted as planned this year for two experimental aircraft designed to test technologies for future spacecraft, but whether either program will continue beyond that has not been determined, NASA officials said Wednesday.

As the National Aeronautics and Space Administration moves forward with President George W. Bush's new space initiative, officials say they must judge whether further research for the X-37 and the X-43 next year fits in.

Both programs were being carried out under the Space Launch Initiative, an effort aimed at developing new spacecraft, which is being folded into NASA's space exploration effort geared toward returning humans to the moon no later than 2020.

NASA plans to fly two tiny, pilotless X-43A unmanned aircraft this year, with the first mission scheduled for Feb. 21. The X-43A is expected to hit speeds of about 4,900 mph during the test, which will start from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base.

The X-43 program is testing an ultra-high-speed, ultra-high-altitude jet engine called a scramjet - supersonic combustion ramjet - that could be used in future space launch vehicles and for high-speed military and civilian aircraft.

Scramjets pull oxygen for combustion from the atmosphere rather than carry the extra weight of its own oxygen as a rocket does. By not having to carry oxygen, a spacecraft can save fuel weight and carry more equipment.

There are two follow-on versions of the X-43 in the planning stages, the X-43B and the X-43C.

``It remains to be seen whether or not hypersonic technology is a player in space exploration,'' said Vic Lebacqz, NASA's associate administrator for aeronautics. ``We need to sort out whether that should be part of our research portfolio.''

Bush's new space goals also raises questions about the X-37 program, which was supporting the now canceled orbital space plane. The orbital space plane was intended to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station, a task that will now fall to a proposed crew exploration vehicle.

NASA will conduct flight tests at Edwards AFB for the atmospheric version of the X-37, which will test approach and landing technologies for possible use in future spacecraft. That X-37, under construction at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, is scheduled to begin its flight tests this fall.

The future of a second X-37, intended to stay in space for months at a time, is in doubt. Whether the orbital X-37, in the design stage, goes forward will depend on whether it fits in the new space exploration goals, officials said.

About 400 people in Southern California work on the X-37, with the work force divided between Boeing facilities in Huntington Beach and Palmdale.

The construction and testing of the atmospheric X-37 is part of a $301 million contract NASA awarded to Boeing in late 2002.

NASA plans to have Boeing and Lockheed Martin, which was working on a launch pad abort system for the orbital space plane, complete their existing contracts while the agency determines how to proceed with the crew exploration vehicle, said Craig Steidle, head of NASA's new Office of Exploration Systems.

``I'm looking at OSP (orbital space plane) in detail,'' Steidle said. ``We're working closely together on the lessons learned and what can be applied.''

The crew exploration vehicle is scheduled to perform its first unmanned demonstration by 2008. The first manned missions are planned for around 2014.

One possible area for involvement by Dryden in the new space goals is the development of flying craft to explore other planets - the airborne equivalent of the Mars Rovers. NASA plans to spend $7 million a year to study concepts and technologies for such vehicles.

``One can get a lot further with an atmospheric vehicle than one on the ground,'' Lebacqz said.

Dryden has been involved with studies on such craft in the past and there is potential for involvement in the new effort, said Bob Meyer, Dryden's acting deputy director.

``There's a strong likelihood that Dryden would be a test spot for the fliers,'' Meyer said.

Jim Skeen, [phone]

james.skeen(at)dailynews.com

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 2 - color) At left, top, an artist's drawing shows the X-37, initially intended to support the now canceled orbital space plane that was to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station. At left, bottom, the unmanned X-43A aircraft has a scramjet engine.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer