A Space & astronomy forum. SpaceBanter.com

Go Back   Home » SpaceBanter.com forum » Space Science » Space Shuttle
Site Map Home Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

X-43A flight delayed.



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old February 17th 04, 07:54 PM
Jacques van Oene
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default X-43A flight delayed.

Michael Braukus
Headquarters, Washington February 17, 2004
(Phone: 202/358-1979)

Leslie Williams
Dryden Flight Research Center, Calif.
(Phone: 661/276-3893)

Keith Henry
Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va.
(Phone: 757/864-6120)

RELEASE: 04-050

X-43A FLIGHT DELAYED

The flight of NASA's X-43A has been postponed, due to an
incident with the rudder actuator on the booster. On Feb 11,
during setup at Orbital Sciences Corporation for testing of the
rudder and its actuator, an anomaly caused the actuator to go
hard over and hit its mechanical stop, exceeding the torque to
which the units were qualified.

Although the actuator may still function nominally, it will
have to be replaced. A joint government/contractor incident
investigation is under way to determine the cause and
corrective actions.

Prior to this incident, the program was considering a delay of
the flight to late March to retune the booster autopilot, to
optimize its performance based on the latest test data. With
the requirement for a replacement actuator, the two activities
will now be done in parallel. Planning is now focused on a
late-March to early-April flight.

The X-43A is a high-risk, high-payoff flight research program.
Designed to fly at seven and ten times the speed of sound, and
use scramjet engines instead of traditional rocket power, the
small, 12-foot-long X-43A could represent a major leap forward
toward the goal of providing faster, more reliable and less
expensive access to space.

The stack, consisting of the X-43A and its modified Pegasus
booster, will be air-launched by NASA's B-52 carrier aircraft
at 40,000 feet altitude. The booster will accelerate the
experimental vehicle to Mach 7 at approximately 95,000 feet
altitude. At booster burnout, the X-43 will separate and fly
under its own power on a preprogrammed path. The flight will
take place over a restricted Navy Pacific Ocean range.


-end-

--


-------------------

Jacques :-)

Editor: www.spacepatches.info


  #2  
Old February 17th 04, 08:11 PM
jeff findley
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default X-43A flight delayed.

"Jacques van Oene" writes:
The X-43A is a high-risk, high-payoff flight research program.
Designed to fly at seven and ten times the speed of sound, and
use scramjet engines instead of traditional rocket power, the
small, 12-foot-long X-43A could represent a major leap forward
toward the goal of providing faster, more reliable and less
expensive access to space.


Again with the air-breathing, space launch vehicle religion. I'm
wondering if the guys working on the program believe in the
air-breathing, space launch vehicle religion, or if they're just using
the religion to gain political (monetary) support for the program.

Jeff
--
Remove "no" and "spam" from email address to reply.
If it says "This is not spam!", it's surely a lie.
  #3  
Old February 17th 04, 08:30 PM
Herb Schaltegger
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default X-43A flight delayed.

jeff findley wrote:

"Jacques van Oene" writes:
The X-43A is a high-risk, high-payoff flight research program.
Designed to fly at seven and ten times the speed of sound, and
use scramjet engines instead of traditional rocket power, the
small, 12-foot-long X-43A could represent a major leap forward
toward the goal of providing faster, more reliable and less
expensive access to space.


Again with the air-breathing, space launch vehicle religion. I'm
wondering if the guys working on the program believe in the
air-breathing, space launch vehicle religion, or if they're just using
the religion to gain political (monetary) support for the program.

Jeff


Or it could be a relatively simple basic research/experimental program
(hence the "X" designation) to help develop and better understand
supersonic combustion as a means of air-breathing propulsion, regardless of
what kind of vehicle a scramjet might propel. That *is* still part of
NASA's basic mission. The fact that the NASA PA PR machine hypes it as
something else is hardly surprising, is it?

--
Herb Schaltegger, B.S., J.D.
Reformed Aerospace Engineer
Remove invalid nonsense for email.
  #4  
Old February 17th 04, 09:22 PM
jeff findley
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default X-43A flight delayed.

Herb Schaltegger lid writes:
The fact that the NASA PA PR machine hypes it as
something else is hardly surprising, is it?


Surely this is the problem. I just wonder if the guys actually
working on the program believe the PR or if they laugh as much as I do
when they read the press releases for their own program. :-O

Jeff
--
Remove "no" and "spam" from email address to reply.
If it says "This is not spam!", it's surely a lie.
  #5  
Old February 17th 04, 11:09 PM
Andrew Gray
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default X-43A flight delayed.

In article , jeff findley wrote:
Herb Schaltegger

lid writes:
The fact that the NASA PA PR machine hypes it as
something else is hardly surprising, is it?


Surely this is the problem. I just wonder if the guys actually
working on the program believe the PR or if they laugh as much as I do
when they read the press releases for their own program. :-O


Oh, if you can't laugh at your own press releases then there's just no
hope left...

(my favourite memory of writing press releases was us carefully crafting
something appropriate for the Returning Officer to say in one, only to
have her point out that a) she was there and b) she hadn't said any of
it. We got her to read it to us...)

--
-Andrew Gray

  #6  
Old February 17th 04, 11:35 PM
Reed Snellenberger
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Successful Clinton-era X space projects? (was X-43A flight delayed.)

"Jacques van Oene" wrote in news:jrtYb.68812$A7.6608
@amsnews05.chello.com:


X-43A FLIGHT DELAYED

etc.


Okay, we've got X-33, X-34, X-37, X-38, and X-43 that've either failed or
had big-time problems. Were there any X-type space-related projects during
the Clinton era that succeeded?

I'm having a hard time coming up with a single one that's on schedule, much
less succeeded. (I suppose X-38 succeeded, in that testing airframe landed
on its chute).

--
Reed
  #7  
Old February 18th 04, 12:32 AM
Mike Dicenso
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Successful Clinton-era X space projects? (was X-43A flightdelayed.)



On Tue, 17 Feb 2004, Reed Snellenberger wrote:

"Jacques van Oene" wrote in news:jrtYb.68812$A7.6608
@amsnews05.chello.com:


X-43A FLIGHT DELAYED

etc.


Okay, we've got X-33, X-34, X-37, X-38, and X-43 that've either failed or
had big-time problems. Were there any X-type space-related projects during
the Clinton era that succeeded?


X-37 and X-34 I'd not describe either of those as failures or suffering
from showstopper technical issues the way X-43 and X-33 did. There was
nothing on X-34 that could not have been overcome with time, and a
relatively small amount of additional money as compared with X-33, for
instance.

And to say that there is something peculiar over this is to ignore past
X-programs that also suffered failures, were cancelled before they could
fly, ect.

I'm having a hard time coming up with a single one that's on schedule, much
less succeeded. (I suppose X-38 succeeded, in that testing airframe landed
on its chute).


X-38 is on it's own as an X-project in this catagory. There were no
significant failures in the program, and only minimal overruns in the
budget. Even the schedule for flight milestones wasn't so bad as far as
slippages was concerned. Yet dispite all of that, it was still cancelled.
Now we do not have a near term program to replace/augment Soyuz as the
station lifeboat.
-Mike
  #8  
Old February 18th 04, 05:57 AM
Explorer8939
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Successful Clinton-era X space projects? (was X-43A flight delayed.)

DC-X



Reed Snellenberger wrote in message 3.121...


Okay, we've got X-33, X-34, X-37, X-38, and X-43 that've either failed or
had big-time problems. Were there any X-type space-related projects during
the Clinton era that succeeded?

  #9  
Old February 18th 04, 11:26 AM
Richard Schumacher
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default X-43A flight delayed.




The X-43A is a high-risk, high-payoff flight research program.
Designed to fly at seven and ten times the speed of sound, and
use scramjet engines instead of traditional rocket power, the
small, 12-foot-long X-43A could represent a major leap forward
toward the goal of providing faster, more reliable and less
expensive access to space.


My goodness. I wonder how many of the people involved in the program
really believe this? Does this claim help funding?


  #10  
Old February 18th 04, 11:30 AM
Richard Schumacher
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default X-43A flight delayed.



Herb Schaltegger wrote:

jeff findley wrote:

Again with the air-breathing, space launch vehicle religion. I'm
wondering if the guys working on the program believe in the
air-breathing, space launch vehicle religion, or if they're just using
the religion to gain political (monetary) support for the program.


Or it could be a relatively simple basic research/experimental program
(hence the "X" designation) to help develop and better understand
supersonic combustion as a means of air-breathing propulsion, regardless of
what kind of vehicle a scramjet might propel. That *is* still part of
NASA's basic mission.


The only sensible applications for scramjets are military. Military R&D should
be funded by the military, not by poor old NASA.


The fact that the NASA PA PR machine hypes it as
something else is hardly surprising, is it?


Well, no. But it's still disappointing to see it.



 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
DFRC release 04-03: X-43A captive carry flight Jacques van Oene Space Shuttle 0 January 28th 04 11:18 AM
captive carry test prepares NASA for next Hyper-X flight Jacques van Oene Space Shuttle 0 January 23rd 04 06:50 PM
NASA Stennis Space Center participates in centennial of flight Jacques van Oene Space Shuttle 0 November 24th 03 05:02 PM
NASA Names Crew Members For Shuttle Return To Flight Mission Ron Baalke Space Shuttle 2 November 9th 03 09:34 AM
NASA displays highlight 100 years of flight at EAFB open house Jacques van Oene Space Shuttle 0 October 22nd 03 10:11 AM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 02:21 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 SpaceBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.