From: Doug Roberts (doug@nolimits.demon.co.uk)
>>> NASA HQ Public Affairs Office
Jim Cast
Dom Amatore
RELEASE: 95-114
The U.S. Air Force has transferred to NASA's Office of Space Access and
Technology the unpiloted, single-stage rocket known as the Delta Clipper-
Experimental (DC-X) for use in NASA's Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) technology
program.
The transfer was made after the successful completion of a series of test
flights conducted for the Air Force by McDonnell Douglas at the U.S. Army's
White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The rocket, renamed the Delta
Clipper-Experimental Advanced (DC-XA) by NASA, now will be modified with
technology intended for use in the X-33 or X-34 reusable launch vehicles now
under development by NASA and its aerospace industry partners.
The DC-XA then will undergo extensive ground and flight testing that will
provide valuable information to the X-33 and X-34 programs. Flight testing
could begin as early as April 1996 at White Sands.
"We plan to take these new technology components and test them in a real
world environment," said NASA's DC-XA project manager Dan Dumbacher of
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL. Marshall is the host center for
NASA's RLV technology program. "We will demonstrate what it takes to support
and operate this single-stage rocket and show its performance in the real
world. What we learn by testing the DC-XA will enable us to reduce hardware
design changes downstream in the X-33 and X-34 programs. This will save these
programs both time and money."
McDonnell Douglas will make the enhancements to the DC-XA in Huntington Beach,
CA. Changes include the addition of an aluminum-lithium liquid oxygen tank; a
composite (graphite epoxy) liquid hydrogen tank; a composite intertank; and a
liquid-to-gas converter assembly in the flight reaction control system.
McDonnell Douglas will design and develop most of these components and conduct
the flight tests for NASA. They will share some of the costs of the DC-XA.
Hardware costs are $20 million and integration costs are $30 million.
Phillips Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque,
NM, will act as NASA's deputy for Flight Test and Operations for the
DC-XA. NASA field centers supporting the DC-XA include Marshall;
Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA; and the Dryden Flight Research
Center, Edwards, CA.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Images are available to media representatives to illustrate
this release by calling the News Branch at 202/358-1900.
NASA photo numbers are: Color: 95-HC-361, 95-HC-362, 95-HC-363;
Black & White: 95-H-371, 95-H-372, 95-H-373.
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