NASA JET MAY FLY SOON.Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer The X-31, NASA's most prolific experimental aircraft, is being readied to take to the skies again, this time to research technologies for future aircraft carrier jets. Built by the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. and Germany, the aircraft uses thrust vectoring - directing the blast of its engine exhaust - to maneuver in conditions where other aircraft would stall and lose control. The X-31 showed that thrust vectoring can be used to design an aircraft with no tail - one that would weigh less and be more difficult to detect by radar. ``The prospects of getting the X-31 back in the air is exciting,'' said Steve Schmidt, manager of the NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. Dryden Flight Research Center's X-31 Vectoring, Extremely Short Takeoff and Landing Short takeoff and landing (STOL) The term applied to heavier-than-air craft that cannot take off and land vertically, but can operate within areas substantially more confined than those normally required by aircraft of the same size. , Control, and Tailless Operation Research, or VECTOR, project. Flights could begin as early as September. A team consisting of the U.S. Navy, Boeing, General Electric, NASA, the Swedish government, Volvo, Saab, the German Ministry of Defense, and Germany's Daimler-Benz consortium is preparing the jet for the new research program. The X-31 program was based at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center The Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC), located inside Edwards Air Force Base, is an aeronautical research center operated by NASA. On March 26, 1976 it was named in honor of the late Hugh L. from February 1992 to the summer of 1995. The joint U.S.-German program logged 559 missions, the most of any of the experimental-plane programs. NASA's X series dates back to the X-1, which broke the sound barrier in 1947, and the famous X-15 rocket planes of the 1960s. Originally, there were two X-31 jets, but one of the aircraft crashed during its final scheduled test mission on Jan. 19, 1995. The crash was attributed to ice in an airspeed airspeed Noun the speed of an aircraft relative to the air in which it moves Noun 1. airspeed - the speed of an aircraft relative to the air in which it is flying speed, velocity - distance travelled per unit time sensor, which resulted in false readings sent to a computerized flight control system. The remaining X-31, refitted with a heated Pitot-static tube, flew 21 flights at the Paris Air Show The Paris Air Show (Salon International de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace, Paris-Le Bourget) is an international trade fair for the aerospace business. It is held at Le Bourget airport near Paris, France every odd year, alternating both with the Farnborough International . Its performance was one of the highlights of the show, aviation industry observers said. In 1995, the X-31 program was awarded the National Air and Space Museum Trophy The National Air and Space Museum Trophy was established in 1985. The trophy presented to the winners is a miniature version of "The Web of Space," a sculpture by artist John Safer The National Air and Space Museum presents this trophy annually to recognize both past and present for Current Achievement by the Smithsonian Institute. CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO (Ran in AV and SAC Editions only) NASA's experimental X-31 plane may take to the Antelope Valley skies again as soon as September. |
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