NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Overview of the X-33 Extended Flight Test RangeOn July 1, 1996, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration signed a Cooperative Agreement No. NCC8-115 with Lockheed Martin Skunk Works to develop and flight test the X-33, a scaled version of a reusable launch vehicle. The development of an Extended Test Range, with range instrumentation providing continuous vehicle communications from Edwards Air Force Base Ca. to landing at Malmstrom Air Force Base Montana, was required to flight test the mach 15 vehicle over 950 nautical miles. The cooperative agreement approach makes Lockheed Martin Skunk Works responsible for the X-33 program. When additional Government help was required, Lockheed "subcontracted" to NASA Field Centers for certain work. It was through this mechanism that Dryden Flight Research Center became responsible for the Extended Test Range. The Extended Test Range Requirements come from two main sources: 1) Range Safety and 2) Lockheed Martin Skunk Works. The range safety requirements were the most challenging to define and meet. The X-33 represents a vehicle that launches like a rocket, reenters the atmosphere and lands autonomously like an aircraft. Historically, rockets have been launched over the oceans to allow failed rockets to be destroyed using explosive devices. Such approaches had to be reconsidered for the X-33 flying over land. Numerous range requirements come from Lockheed Martin Skunk Works for interface definitions with the vehicle communication subsystems and the primary ground operations center, defined the Operations Control Center. Another area of considerable interest was the reentry plasma shield that causes "blackout" of the radio frequency signals, such as the range safety commands. Significant work was spent to analyze and model the blackout problem using a cooperative team of experts from across the country. The paper describes the Extended Test Range a, an unique Government/industry team of personnel and range assets was established to resolve design issues and accomplish the X-33 requirements. The paper will also provide an overview of the technical approaches used to meet program requirements. The advances used to develop the extended test range will be discussed to show how other hypersonic and Access to Space programs can benefit from the development of the extended test range. Acknowledgment: The work described in this paper was NASA supported through cooperative agreement NCC8-115 with Lockheed Martin Skunk Works.
Document ID
19990102220
Acquisition Source
Marshall Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Mackall, D.
(Lockheed Martin Corp. Palmdale, CA United States)
Sakahara, R.
(Lockheed Martin Corp. Palmdale, CA United States)
Kremer, S.
(Lockheed Martin Corp. Palmdale, CA United States)
Date Acquired
August 19, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1998
Subject Category
Launch Vehicles And Space Vehicles
Meeting Information
Meeting: Telemetry
Location: San Diego, CA
Country: United States
Start Date: October 26, 1998
End Date: October 29, 1998
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NCC8-115
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

Available Downloads

There are no available downloads for this record.
No Preview Available