UNMANNED PLANE TAKEN FOR TEST RUN.Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer MOJAVE - An unmanned Defense Department aircraft designed to test technologies for future spacecraft was taken aloft for a dress rehearsal dress rehearsal n. A full, uninterrupted rehearsal of a play with costumes and stage properties. dress rehearsal Noun 1. for its upcoming flight tests, defense officials said Wednesday. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Boeing-built X-37 completed its first ``captive carry'' flight slung beneath Burt 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. aircraft, the same airplane used to launch SpaceShipOne on historic space flights last year. The two aircraft took off from the Mojave airport at 6:04 a.m. Tuesday and flew for 81 minutes. The White Knight carried the X-37 to a maximum altitude of 37,800 feet and 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 of about 185 mph, according to 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. . DARPA is the same agency that spurred the early secret development of the F-117A stealth fighter and the Global Hawk unmanned reconnaissance aircraft. 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. Additional captive carry flights are planned prior to a series of up to three drop tests. The flight test work is expected to be completed this summer, according to DARPA. For the drop tests, the White Knight/X-37 tandem will fly out of Mojave, but the missions will end with glide 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. . 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. Built by a small cadre of Boeing Co. workers at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, the X-37 was shipped to Rutan's Scaled Composites company in April to be prepared for the 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 |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion