Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES
Boeing and the US Air Force's Phillips Laboratory have rolled out a 90%-scale test version of the Space Maneuver Vehicle (SMV) at the former Rockwell site in Seal Beach, California. The SMV is now being prepared for flight tests in November at Holloman AFB, New Mexico.
The flight tests form the first phase of a three-part effort to deploy an SMV demonstrator early in the next century. The vehicle, and the parallel Military-Spaceplane Suborbital-Operations Demonstrator, form the cornerstone of the USAF's 21st- century vision which sees it becoming an integrated space and air force.
The SMV itself is intended to provide a rapidly deployable un-manned spacecraft for tactical reconnaissance, an escort for space "assets", a potential offensive-weapons platform and a means of quickly classifying unidentified flying objects in space.
Phase one, covering unpowered flight tests, will begin in November, says Boeing SMV programme manager John Fuller, who says: "We're over the hump on the tightly scheduled development programme, which began less than a year ago."
The 1,180kg, 7m-long vehicle will be dropped from a Sikorsky H-60 for the tests, which will focus on the Boeing-developed digital flight-control system and autonomous control and landing capability. The SMV will be lifted vertically on a 21m-tether by the H-60, which will gradually build up forward speed until releasing the vehicle at 90kt (165km/h) and 9,000ft (2,700m). The SMV will be fitted with a 2.1m-diameter parachute to stabilise it in flight.
The SMV is designed with two large "ruddervators" and relatively small (3.7m) span wings to enable it to be attached to a wide variety of launch vehicles. These range from the Pegasus booster for an air-launched option, to a Titan III for ground launch. The ultimate aim is a totally re-useable system using the military spaceplane. The small wings provide only 47% of the vehicle's lift, with the body generating 43% and the ruddervators the remaining 10%.
The USAF's plan for phase two includes powered flight tests using existing engine technology for hypersonic flight tests at maximum speeds of between Mach 15 and 20. The second phase will include tests of an expendable launch vehicle to provide a suborbital, ballistic trajectory for the SMV and an orbital mission test. For this, the SMV will be placed in orbit from the Space Shuttle or a surplus booster. The third phase would see the use of the military spaceplane demonstrator to launch the SMV.
Source: Flight International
