Orbital Sciences X-34

X-34

The X-34 on the tarmac
Function	Unmanned Re-usable Spaceplane
Manufacturer	Orbital Sciences Corporation
Country of origin	United States
Size
Height	58.3 ft[1] (17.8 m)
Diameter	N/A
Mass	18,000 lb[1] (8,200 kg)
Stages	1
Capacity
Launch history
Status	Cancelled
Launch sites	Dryden Flight Research Center, Kennedy Space Center
Total launches	0
First stage - X-34
Engines	1 Marshall-designed Fastrac engine[1]
Thrust	60,000 lbf[1] (270 kN)
Burn time
Fuel	LOX/kerosene

The Orbital Sciences X-34 was intended as a low-cost testbed to demonstrate "key technologies" integratable to the Reusable Launch Vehicle program.

It was intended to be an autonomous pilotless craft powered by a 'Fastrac' liquid rocket engine capable of reaching Mach 8, and performing 25 test flights per year. The unpowered prototype had only been used for towing and captive flight tests when the project was canceled in 2001 for cost concerns. Orbital and Rockwell withdrew less than a year after the contract was signed, because they decided the project could not be done for the promised amount. (A major disagreement between Rockwell and NASA over engine choice likely contributed to the decision.)^{[citation needed]}

The X-34 was reborn as a program for a suborbital reusable-rocket technology demonstrator. But when the first flight vehicle was near completion, the program died after NASA demanded sizable design changes without providing any new funding, and the contractor, Orbital Sciences, refused.^{[citation needed]}

The two demonstrators remained in storage at Edwards Air Force Base^[2] until November 16, 2010, when both X-34s were moved with their vertical tails removed from Dryden to a hangar owned by the National Test Pilot school in Mojave, California. They are to be inspected, and NASA is investigating the possibility of restoring them to flight status.^[3]

See also

• List of experimental aircraft
• Cygnus spacecraft

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} "X-34: Demonstrating Reusable Launch Vehicle Technologies (wikisource)". http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/X-34:_Demonstrating_Reusable_Launch_Vehicle_Technologies. Retrieved 2007-06-13. 
2. ^ Orbital Sciences Corporation X-34. Airliners.net
3. ^ http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/11/19/349997/photos-nasa-moves-x-34s-out-of-storage-considers-return-to-flight.html

External links

Media related to Orbital Sciences X-34 at Wikimedia Commons

• NASA Dryden X-34 Technology Testbed Demonstrator Photo Collection
• Federation of American Scientists