ROCKET MOTOR TEST A SUCCESS PROGRAM AIMED AT GETTING INTO SPACE CHEAPLY, RELIABLY.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE - Lockheed Martin and the Air Force announced a successful test firing at Edwards Air Force Base of a large rocket motor in a program aimed at getting into space more cheaply and reliably.

The 23,500-pound thrust rocket motor was fired for 60 seconds on Jan. 21, program officials said.

The test was conducted in support of a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and Air Force program called Force Application and Launch from the Continental U.S. - FALCON for short.

The ultimate goal of the program is to develop an aircraft capable of flying at least 3,500 mph - more than 1,000 mph faster than the current jet record - and able to carry 12,000 pounds of cruise missiles or small-diameter bombs.

The testing at Edwards, however, is aimed at a more near-term objective: the development of a small launch vehicle, or SLV, capable of placing a small satellite or other payload weighing approximately 1,000 pounds into a low Earth orbit at a total launch cost of less than $5 million.

The rocket motor being tested at Edwards is a hybrid using both solid and liquid fuel. Hybrid motors offer significant advantages because they are safer, cheaper and environmentally benign, and their thrust can be controlled by a throttle, program officials said.

Two more test firings are scheduled for this spring, one for 120 seconds and another for 187 seconds.

The program is using Edwards' rocket test stand 2-A, which was recently refurbished at a cost of $18.5 million. The test stand was used in the 1960s to test F-1 engines for the Apollo Saturn V rocket and in the 1970s for the space shuttle's main engines.

Mounted on rocky Leuhman Ridge across Rogers Dry Lake from Edwards' main installation, the concrete and steel test stand is capable of testing rockets producing 750,000 pounds of thrust.

Lockheed Martin was one of four companies selected to conduct preliminary design and risk reduction demonstrations for the new space program. The other companies competing in the program are Airlaunch LLC; Microcosm Inc.; and Space Exploration Technologies Inc.

Defense Department officials are expected to select one company in 2005 to continue the development of the small launch vehicle with a demonstration launch in 2007.

If Lockheed Martin wins, it would conduct more tests at Edwards, company officials said.

Jim Skeen, [phone]

james.skeen(at)dailynews.com