Tim Furniss/LONDON
NASA has formally awarded Orbital Sciences (OSC) the $50 million contract to develop the small X-34 technology demonstrator for the agency's reusable launch vehicle (RLV) programme.
The X-34 research will complement the Lockheed Martin's X-33 single-stage-to-orbit RLV sub-orbital demonstration vehicle and the McDonnell Douglas Clipper Graham DC-XA technology craft. NASA is putting $10 million into the X-34 programme.
The OSC contract calls for eight flights of the 18m-long X-34 rocket-powered spaceplane. The first two must occur during late 1998.
The X-34 will be air-launched from the OSC Lockheed L-1011 carrier aircraft after take-off from White Sands, New Mexico. The six remaining flights will reach a maximum speed of Mach 1 and altitude of 250,000ft.
NASA may exercise an option for 25 additional X-34 flights, some possibly originating from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. AlliedSignal has been awarded an $8.2 million contract from OSC to provide components for the X-34, including electrical and hydraulic power systems.
Competition to win the US Air Force Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) contract is also intensifying, with Boeing carrying a test firing of a modified Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) for 6min.
The SSME had been installed in a Boeing propulsion module and dropped twice from a crane into inland waterways at NASA's Stennis Space Centre, Mississippi.
The subsequent firing (the 51st by the veteran test engine 2107) completed Boeing's rocket-engine recovery and re-use demonstration programme. One aim of the EELV project is to halve launch costs and reduce launch turnaround to 30 days.
Boeing is the only potential EELV contractor to incorporate the SSME in its design. The other companies working on the $30 million Phase 1 contract are Alliant Tech-Systems, Lockheed Martin and McDonnell Douglas. The companies will submit their bids to the US Air Force later in September and two companies will be selected for $60 million detailed design study contracts.
The finalist for the potential $2 billion programme to replace the existing Atlas, Delta and Titan boosters by 2005 will be selected in 1998. Two medium-class and one heavy-class EELV models are planned.
Source: Flight International
