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military X-37 space plane went through its first free flight
Darpa pulled the mothballed NASA X-37 space plan out of storage and is turning it into a space bomber?Space plane flies free: After weeks of delay, the military X-37 space plane went through its first free flight through the skies over California's Mojave Desert today and landed autonomously at Edwards Air Force Base. That's the good news from the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The bad news is that the vehicle experienced an "anomaly" and went off the runway, DARPA spokeswoman Jan Walker told me. Fortunately, only minor damage was done, she said. The X-37 was carried up from the Mojave Airport by Scaled Composites' White Knight airplane, the same mothership that bore SpaceShipOne into the sky for its historic private-sector space launches. That's been done several times before. But until today, either unacceptable weather or electronic glitches had stymied the maiden drop test â and the X-37 had to stay hooked to the White Knight. This time, all systems were go when the White Knight reached its target altitude of 37,000 feet, and the X-37 was set free at last for a three-minute glide to touchdown. Back in the 1990s, the X-37 was designed as a NASA experimental craft, 27.5 feet (8.4 meters) long with a 15-foot (4.5-meter) wingspan. It was meant to be carried into orbit in the space shuttle's payload bay or atop an expendable rocket, then deployed for independent missions lasting up to 21 days. At the end of each mission, the X-37 would glide back down to an autonomous landing. NASA dropped the project after deciding that the X-37 was not a good fit for its future exploration plans, but DARPA picked it up in 2004 for its potential military applications. As far back as 2001, NBC News producer Robert Windrem reported that the craft could be adapted to serve as a "space bomber." Today's drop test was only the first of what surely will be a long series of flights, and the fact that the plane went off track after today's touchdown won't be a mortal blow. After all, SpaceShipOne veered off the runway at the end of its first supersonic flight. (For pictures of that mishap from Mojave photographer Alan Radecki, click here.) Stuart Witt, manager of the Mojave Airport, was clearly pleased that the X-37 was finally released for free flight after so many false starts. "It's exciting," he told me. "It's been good to see synergistic tests springboard off previous successes and capitalize on national assets like the White Knight for other uses," Witt said. Here's the full statement from DARPA's Walker, released at 5 p.m. ET: "The DARPA-sponsored X-37 Approach and Landing Test Vehicle (ALTV) conducted its first drop test on April 7, 2006. "White Knight and ALTV took off from Mojave, Calif., airport at 6:30 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT). At 7:28 a.m. PDT, White Knight released ALTV within the Edwards AFB test range airspace at an altitude of 37,000 feet. ALTV touched down on runway 22 at Edwards AFB, Calif., at 7:31 a.m. PDT. ALTVâs autonomous landing sequence and initial touchdown were flawless and fully according to plan, but ALTV did not stop in the distance expected and rolled off the end of the runway. ALTVâs steering was nominal for the full length of the runway. "The cause of the incident is not yet known. The ALTV flight team continues to assess the situation. "All flight data has been recovered from ALTV. There was minor damage to ALTV â the nose landing gear is heavily damaged, but the main landing gear and aircraft appear structurally intact." Posted by: 2006-04-08 |
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