NEW JOBS MAY LAND WITH X-33 : ROCKWELL COULD HIRE 200 IF IT WINS SPACE CONTRACT.

Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer

Rockwell International expects to employ about 200 people in Palmdale during the construction of a subscale prototype of a reusable spaceship if NASA selects the company for the project, company officials said Thursday.

Plans for Rockwell's X-33 technology demonstrator call for a prototype that would be 48.4 percent of the size of the real spaceship. The demonstrator would be 103.4 feet long, with a wingspan of 49.6 feet, and would weigh 69,000 pounds, Rockwell officials said. There would be 16 test flights at Edwards Air Force Base.

Donald Beall, Rockwell chairman and chief executive officer, said a reusable launch vehicle is important to the future expansion of space-related industries.

``The key to this growth is a commercially developed and operated RLV that dramatically reduces user costs; provides simple, reliable and safe space access; and assures space leadership for America.''

Rockwell is one of three companies vying for the X-33 contract, expected to be awarded July 1. Also competing for the contract are Lockheed Martin's ``Skunk Works'' and McDonnell Douglas.

Antelope Valley civic leaders are coming up with a list of incentives to lure the X-33 program to Edwards Air Force Base. But the valley faces competition from New Mexico and Florida.

New Mexico is paying for environmental studies needed to locate the program there, and Florida is offering to issue bonds to help with construction costs.

The most recent incentive in California was a pledge from Kern County of $200,000 for road improvements and up to $500,000 for site preparation if the spaceport is established at Edwards. Rockwell's reusable launch vehicle would be 213 feet long, with a wingspan of 103 feet and a weight of 206,000 pounds.

The company envisions an X-33 capable of at least 60 flights a year, with launches either from Edwards Air Force Base or Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The company estimates the development costs at $5 billion to $8 billion.

Because of the competition for the project, no one is revealing employment estimates for a commercial version of the X-33, but community officials guessed it would be several hundred jobs.

The spaceships proposed by the three companies all look different.

Rockwell's vehicle is fatter and bigger than the space shuttle, but without the boosters and external tank. It would take off vertically - like a rocket - but land horizontally, like an airplane or the shuttle.

Lockheed Martin proposes a wedge-shaped ship with tail fins, employing a new engine technology.

McDonnell Douglas designed a ship that looks like a bullet or a tear drop. It would take off and land vertically.