Martin Marietta X-24A

This article is about the experimental aircraft. For the aeroplane engine, see X24 engine.

X-24A
The Martin X-24A
Role	Lifting body
Manufacturer	Martin Marietta
First flight	17 April 1969
Retired	26 November 1975
Status	Out of service
Primary users	U.S.Air Force NASA
Number built	1
Developed from	X-23 PRIME
Variants	Martin Marietta X-24B

The Martin Marietta X-24A was an experimental US aircraft developed from a joint USAF-NASA program named PILOT (1963–1975). It was designed and built to test lifting body concepts, experimenting with the concept of unpowered reentry and landing, later used by the Space Shuttle.^[1]

Design and development

The X-24A begins its rocket-powered flight after being launched from the wing of NASA's B-52 mothership, Balls 8, during a 1970 research flight

The X-24 was one of a group of lifting bodies flown by the NASA Flight Research Center (now Dryden Flight Research Center) in a joint program with the U.S. Air Force at Edwards Air Force Base in California from 1963 to 1975. The lifting bodies were used to demonstrate the ability of pilots to maneuver and safely land wingless vehicles designed to fly back to Earth from space and be landed like an airplane at a predetermined site.

Lifting bodies’ aerodynamic lift, essential to flight in the atmosphere, was obtained from their shape. The addition of fins and control surfaces allowed the pilots to stabilize and control the vehicles and regulate their flight paths.

The X-24 (Model SV-5P) was built by Martin Marietta and flown from Edwards AFB, California. The X-24A was the fourth lifting body design to fly; it followed the NASA M2-F1 in 1964, the Northrop HL-10 in (1966), the Northrop M2-F2 in 1968 and preceded the Northrop M2-F3 (1970).

The X-24A was a fat, short teardrop shape with vertical fins for control. It made its first, unpowered, glide flight on April 17, 1969 with Air Force Maj. Jerauld R. Gentry at the controls. Gentry also piloted its first powered flight on March 19, 1970. The craft was taken to around 45,000 feet (13.7 km) by a modified B-52 and then drop launched, then either glided down or used its rocket engine to ascend to higher altitudes before gliding down. The X-24A was flown 28 times at speeds up to 1,036 mph (1,667 km/h) and altitudes up to 71,400 feet (21.8 km).

SV-5J

After learning about a remark by Chuck Yeager that he would like to have some jet-powered lifting bodies for training purposes, Martin designed and built two examples of the SV-5J on their own initiative .^[1]

The SV-5J was a jet-powered version of the rocket-powered X-24A. The SV-5J had identical dimensions to the X-24A, but was powered by a single Pratt & Whitney J60-PW-1 jet engine of 1360 kgf, in place of the X-24A's Reaction Motors XLR-11-RM-13 rocket engine. Martin also manufactured a full-scale, unflyable, mock-up of the SV-5J. (Confusion over number built may be due to the mock-up being included in the production list.)

Martin was unable to convince Milt Thompson to fly the SV-5J, even after offering a $20,000 bonus. Both examples remained unflown.

As the original X-24A was converted to X-24B, one of the SV-5Js eventually was converted to represent the X-24A, for display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, besides the original X-24B.

The unflyable mock-up ended up in Hollywood and was used for several movies as a space-ship prop.

Operational history

The X-24A was flown 28 times in the program that, like the HL-10, validated the concept that a Space Shuttle vehicle could be landed unpowered. The fastest speed achieved by the X-24A was 1,036 miles per hour (1667 km/h or Mach 1.6). Its maximum altitude was 71,400 feet (21.8 km) . It was powered by an XLR-11 rocket engine with a maximum theoretical vacuum thrust of 8,480 pounds force (37.7 kN).

The X-24A was modified into the more stable X-24B with an entirely different shape in 1972. The bulbous shape of the X-24A was converted into a "flying flatiron" shape with a rounded top, flat bottom, and double delta planform that ended in a pointed nose. It was the basis for the Martin SV-5J. The X-24A shape was later borrowed for the X-38 Crew Return Vehicle (CRV) technology demonstrator for the International Space Station.

X-24A pilots

• Jerauld R. Gentry - 13 flights
• John A. Manke - 12 flights
• Cecil W. Powell - 3 flights

Specifications (X-24A)

General characteristics

• Crew: one pilot
• Length: 24 ft 6 in (7.47 m)
• Wingspan: 11 ft 6 in (3.51 m)
• Height: 9 ft 7 in (2.92 m)
• Wing area: 195 ft² (18.1 m²)
• Empty weight: 6,360 lb (2,885 kg)
• Loaded weight: 10,700 lb (4,853 kg)
• Max takeoff weight: 11,447 lb (5,192 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × Reaction Motors XLR-11rs four-chamber rocket engine, 8,480 lbf (37.7 kN)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 1,036 mph (1,667 km/h)
• Range: 45 miles (72 km)
• Service ceiling: 71,407 ft (21,763 m)
• Wing loading: 59 lb/ft² (288 kg/m²)
• Thrust/weight: 0.70

See also

United States Air Force portal

Related development

• X-23 PRIME
• Martin Marietta X-24B
  

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

• M2-F1
• M2-F2
• M2-F3
• HL-10
• Space Shuttle
  

Related lists

• List of experimental aircraft
  

References

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Reed and Lister 2002.

Bibliography

• Reed, R. Dale with Darlene Lister. Wingless Flight: The Lifting Body Story. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2002. ISBN 0-81319-026-6.
• Winchester, Jim. "Martin-Marietta X-24." X-Planes and Prototypes.' London: Amber Books Ltd., 2005. ISBN 1-904687-40-7.

External links

• NASA Dryden X-24 Photo Collection
• X-24A at Encyclopedia Astronautica