X-33 Aerospike Engine Tests Continue

SPACEMART

Initial tandem test firings of the XRS-2200 Linear Aerospike engines will be short bursts of a few seconds, eventually leading to durations required to send the unpiloted vehicle from a launch pad in California to landings in either Utah or Montana.

St. Louis - Feb. 7, 2001
Qualification test firings of the unique engines designed to propel America's X-33 space plane into high-speed, suborbital flight in 2003 began Tuesday at NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center in Bay St. Louis, Miss.

The ignition test went the full scheduled duration of 1.1 seconds with no observed anomalies.

Initial tandem test firings of the XRS-2200 Linear Aerospike engines will be short bursts such as this, eventually leading to durations required to send the unpiloted vehicle from a launch pad in California to landings in either Utah or Montana.

The engines will power the X-33, a half-scale, sub-orbital flight demonstrator of technology required for a reusable launch vehicle.

"Initial indications are all test objectives were met in this first test of the flight engines," said Mike McKeon, program manager for the XRS-2200 aerospike engine at the Rocketdyne Propulsion & Power business of The Boeing Company. "We are now reviewing the data and preparing to move into longer duration testing."

"I'm excited about beginning this phase of testing," said Dr. Don Chenevert, NASA's X-33 project manager at Stennis. "I'm confident the remainder of dual-engine testing will perform equally as well as this initial ignition test."

Eight more test firings of the twin flight engines are planned at Stennis before they are delivered to Lockheed Martin's X-33 assembly facility in Palmdale, Calif.

Fourteen single-engine test firings of a development configuration of the unique Aerospike engine were successfully completed at Stennis Space Center in May 2000.

Boeing Rocketdyne developed the XRS-2200 Aerospike engine at its Canoga Park, Calif., facility. Final engine assembly was done by the NASA/Boeing Rocketdyne team at Stennis Space Center.

SPACEMART

X-43 Gears Up For Test Flight At Dryden

Edwards - Feb. 2, 2001
The first of three hypersonic (X-43A) research vehicles started the final preparations toward a flight in early summer, as the second vehicle arrived on January 31, 2001, at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in California.

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2016 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.