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LAUNCH ALERT
Brian Webb
Ventura County, California
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Web Site: http://www.spacearchive.info
2004 April 19 (Monday) 16:31 PDT
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BOEING DELTA II LAUNCH OF NASA SATELLITE SCRUBBED
Boeing News Release
ST. LOUIS, April 19, 2004 � Today�s launch of a Boeing [NYSE: BA]
Delta II rocket carrying the NASA Gravity Probe B satellite from
Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., has been scrubbed for 24 hours.
Boeing and NASA officials halted the countdown approximately three
minutes before liftoff after it was determined that there was
insufficient time to confirm that the correct wind profile data had
been loaded aboard the Delta II based on a weather balloon that was
monitoring upper level winds.
The launch team will attempt to launch again tomorrow at an
instantaneous window of 9:57:24 a.m. PDT.
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FIRST AEROSPIKE ENGINE FLIGHT TEST SUCCESSFUL
NASA News Release
NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, the U.S. Air Force Flight Test
Center (AFFTC), and Blacksky Corporation joined forces on the prairie
lands of West Texas recently to fly small aerospike rocket nozzles.
The effort, called the Dryden Aerospike Rocket Test, yielded big
returns, providing the first known data from a solid-fueled aerospike
rocket in flight.
Two 10-ft. long solid-fueled rockets with aerospike nozzles were flown
successfully on two consecutive flights March 30 and 31, 2004. Under
perfect skies and calm winds, the rockets ascended from the King Ranch
launch site at the Pecos County Aerospace Development Corporation
Flight Test Range in Fort Stockton, Texas.
"The success of the Dryden Aerospike Rocket Test project opens up a
whole new way of obtaining flight research data for not only the
aerospike nozzles but for other rocket technologies as well, such as
dual-bell nozzles," said NASA Dryden's Trong Bui, the project's
principal investigator. "This inexpensive, high-speed flight research
platform allows us to take new ideas to flight quickly and at the same
time, increases the technology readiness level of new aerospace
concepts," Bui said.
Aerospike nozzles can be thought of as inside-out rocket nozzles.
Rather than the rocket engine's exhaust plume exiting out the
traditional bell-shaped nozzle, the plume travels externally. The main
advantage of aerospike nozzles is that, as the rocket climbs,
atmospheric and airstream pressure act on the plume to keep it at an
optimum setting along the entire trajectory. This allows very
efficient engine performance in flight. With traditional rocket
engines, the bell nozzle is most efficient at only one point in the
rocket's trajectory.
Although the advantages of the aerospike nozzles are well understood
through analysis and ground test data, the lack of actual flight test
data has precluded use of these nozzles in current as well as next
generation space launch vehicles. In addition, the configuration of
an aerospike nozzle presents unique challenges to the designer and
fabricator.
The rockets reached supersonic speeds in excess of Mach 1.5 and peak
altitudes of over 26,000 ft. However, speed and altitude weren't the
project's aim. The goals of this flight research project were to
obtain aerospike rocket nozzle performance data in flight and to
investigate the effects of transonic flow and transient rocket flight
conditions on aerospike nozzle performance.
"The successful planning and integration of the Dryden Aerospike
Rocket Test project clearly demonstrates the capability of the
low-cost technology approach used," said Scott Bartel of Blacksky
Corp., of Carlsbad, Calif., which built the rockets. "The flight
operations support from the Tripoli Rocketry Association and Fort
Stockton shows that enthusiasm for aerospace research is universal,"
Bartel said.
Blacksky Corp. coordinated development of the experimental aerospike
nozzles and solid propellant motors used in the tests with Cesaroni
Technology Inc., of Ontario, Canada. Cesaroni provided key support
to the project with the rapid design and development of both
aerospike nozzles, as well as the custom solid propellant rocket
motors. The configuration of these aerospike nozzles presented unique
design and fabrication challenges for Cesaroni.
"For many years NASA Dryden has built small radio controlled and
remotely-piloted research models flown at subsonic speeds to explore
new concepts such as lifting bodies, parafoil landing systems, and
the testing of hypersonic shapes for landing feasibility," said Chuck
Rogers, AFFTC project investigator. "With the demonstration of this
rocket flight test technique these models can now be tested at
transonic and supersonic flight conditions at very low cost," Rogers
said.
"We are very excited to have been part of the Dryden Aerospike Rocket
Test, and hope that the data collected during the flights at the
Pecos County Aerospace Development Center will further the
development of the aerospike rocket motor," said George Riggs,
president of the Pecos County/West Texas Aerospace Development Corp.
"Pecos County looks forward to continued relations with NASA Dryden,
Blacksky Corp. and Cesaroni Technology Inc. as the aerospike project
moves forward," Riggs said.
NASA Dryden funded the project and instrumented the rockets. Dryden,
together with the AFFTC, developed the project's flight test concept,
worked the conceptual design of the aerospikes, and are analyzing the
flight data. NASA Dryden and the AFFTC are co-located on Edwards AFB,
Calif.
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Copyright � 2004 Brian Webb. All rights reserved. This newsletter may
be distributed in its entirety without restriction. Excerpts may be
reprinted elsewhere without permission if the source is clearly
identified as follows:
Reprinted from Launch Alert (www.spacearchive.info/newsletter.htm)
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