Modified X-34 experimental rocket plane tests begin

Flight Journal, Jun 2000

ASA's first X-34 completed its transition from structural test vehicle to flying experimental rocket plane and is undergoing tests that will lead to its first flight later this year.

The X-34 is a flying laboratory for technologies and operations that will be applicable to future low-cost, reusable launch vehicles. It is one of a family of technology demonstrators aimed at lowering launching costs from $10,000 to $1,000 per pound.

The suborbital X-34 is 58.3 feet long and 27.7 feet wide. Capable of flying at up to Mach 8 and reaching altitudes of approximately 50 miles, it is scheduled to make 27 flights, both powered and unpowered. A government/industry team at Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California, added flight computers, electronics, hydraulics, landing gear and other equipment to ready the X-34 for unpowered flights at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.

Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Virginia, built the first X-34 as a structural test article for ground vibration and captive flights. Two other flying X-34s--designated A-2 and A-3--are under construction.

The first tests, scheduled to begin in mid-February, will be ground-based. The X-34 will be towed behind a semi truck along Edwards' desert lakebed. To check its guidance and navigation systems, nosewheel steering, braking, rudder speed brake and rudder steering, it will be released at speeds of up to 80mph. If ground tests are successful, flight tests will follow.