NEW SPACE PROJECTS LINED UP.Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer LOS ANGELES - America's next manned spacecraft, a flying space telescope, and a new satellite launch system are among the new space projects in which the Antelope Valley is expected to have a role to play. NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. and private industry plan to use the services and facilities of Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 301,000 acres (121,805 hectares), S Calif., NE of Lancaster; est. 1933. It is one of the largest air force bases in the United States and has the world's longest runway. and the Mojave Airport to support the development of new technologies, primarily through flight-test and engine-testing activities. At Edwards, the NASA 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. will support the development of the crew exploration vehicle
The Crew Exploration Vehicle (or CEV) was the conceptual component of the Vision for Space Exploration that later became known as the Orion spacecraft. , or CEV CEV Crew Exploration Vehicle (NASA) CEV Contemporary English Version (Bible) CEV Confédération Européenne de Volleyball CEV Confederation Européenne de Volleyball , which will replace the space shuttle for carrying Americans into space and will later be part of a system to return man to the moon. ``We will support the launch abort system testing,'' said Dryden Director Kevin Petersen. ``We also expect to be heavy into the re-entry and landing (testing) aspects.'' Petersen made the comments during a panel discussion at ``Transforming Space - Innovation, Infrastructure and Intellectual Capital,'' a conference hosted last week in Los Angeles by the California Space Authority The California Space Authority (CSA) is a nonprofit corporation representing the commercial, civil, and national defense/homeland security interests of California's diverse space enterprise community in four domains: Industry, Government, Academia, and Workforce. and the California Space Education and Workforce Institute. Expected and potential work on the CEV at Dryden includes dropping scale models of the vehicle from an airplane for testing approach and landing technologies, qualification testing of the parachutes and other technologies that would be used for landings, component experiments, and thermal protection system testing. NASA is also planning to have the spacecraft land at Edwards, agency officials said. Dryden is slated to conduct flight testing for a flying telescope called the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy: see infrared astronomy. , or SOFIA Sofia (sōfē`ə, sō`fēə), Bulg. Sofiya, city (1993 pop. 1,114,476), capital of Bulgaria, W central Bulgaria, on a high plain surrounded by the Balkan Mts. . The project involves installing a 48,000-pound telescope into a Boeing 747, making it the world's largest portable telescope. Flight testing is expected to occur next year, said Scott Hubbard, director of NASA Ames Research Center NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) is a NASA facility located at Moffett Federal Airfield, which covers 43 acres at the borders of the cities of Mountain View and Sunnyvale in California. This research center is most commonly called NASA Ames. in Northern California. ``The Boeing 747 is heavily modified. That's why the flight testing is so important,'' Hubbard said. ``This is the heaviest modification that has ever taken place with a 747.'' Edwards and the Mojave Airport will be used in an effort to develop a new satellite launch system that calls for dropping a booster rocket out the rear cargo door of a C-17 transport jet. AirLaunch LLC, a Kirkland, Wash., company, wants to create a system capable of launching a 1,000-pound satellite into space within 24 hours of getting an order, and doing it for a cost under $5 million. The company has already done some test work in the Antelope Valley and plans additional testing under a $17.8 million contract awarded last month. AirLaunch plans to conduct engine testing at a test stand in Mojave and will conduct flight tests with the assistance of the 418th Flight Test Squadron at Edwards, said company president Debra Facktor Lepore. Jim Skeen, (661) 267-5743 james.skeen(at)dailynews.com |
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