RUTAN TO TEST BOEING X-37 3 DROPS PLANNED FROM JET THAT LAUNCHED SPACESHIP.Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer MOJAVE - Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites Scaled Composites (often abbreviated as Scaled), formerly the Rutan Aircraft Factory, is located at the Mojave Spaceport, Mojave, California, United States and is headed by aircraft designer Burt Rutan. workers are preparing for the first flight tests of the Boeing-built X-37, an unmanned aircraft designed to test technologies for future spacecraft. The X-37 will be carried aloft and launched by Rutan's White Knight White Knight falls off his horse every time it stops. [Br. Lit.: Lewis Carroll Through the Looking-Glass] See : Awkwardness White Knight invents clever objects that never work. [Br. Lit. turbojet turbojet: see turbine. turbojet Jet engine in which a turbine-driven compressor draws in and compresses air, forcing it into a combustion chamber into which fuel is injected. , the same aircraft used to launch SpaceShipOne on historic space flights last year. The X-37 completed its first taxi test last week at Mojave Airport. With the X-37 slung beneath it, the twin-engine White Knight rolled down a runway at about 23 mph Thursday. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), U.S. government agency administered by the Department of Defense (see Defense, United States Department of). , which is sponsoring the program, is planning for three tests in which the X-37 will be dropped to glide to landings at 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. . With the X-37 in tandem, the White Knight will fly out of the Mojave Airport to drop the unmanned aircraft for the tests, but the missions will end at Edwards, said DARPA DARPA: see Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) The name given to the U.S. Advanced Research Projects Agency during the 1980s. It was later renamed back to ARPA. spokeswoman Jan Walker. Test dates are not being announced. The X-37 was designed to advance technologies that could be used in future spacecraft, including new thermal-protection systems, composite materials and advanced navigation and control systems. DARPA, the same agency that spurred development of the F-117A stealth fighter and the Global Hawk reconnaissance aircraft, is sponsoring the flight tests. Agency officials said they support cost-effective access to space, reliable and reusable launch systems, and hypersonic hy·per·son·ic adj. Of, relating to, or capable of speed equal to or exceeding five times the speed of sound. hy vehicle characterizations. Built by a small cadre of Boeing Company workers at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, the X-37 was shipped to Scaled Composites last month to be prepared for its flight tests. Boeing hired Scaled to act as a subcontractor for the flight tests. The X-37 initially was funded under a $173 million contract in 1999, with the costs being shared by NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. , Boeing and the Air Force. The Air Force later dropped out of the program. Work on the experimental aircraft continued under a $301 million contract to support a now-canceled effort to develop a manned spacecraft to augment the space shuttle fleet. DARPA picked up sponsorship of the program last fall. The X-37 was one of three X-plane projects launched during the Clinton administration to test technologies for future spacecraft. The others, X- 33 and X-34, were canceled after technical difficulties and cost overruns. Jim Skeen, (661) 267-5743 james.skeen(at)dailynews.com |
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