May 7 2003
From The Space Library
Boeing announced the successful completion of Phase III testing of the X-31A Vector aircraft~the world's only international experimental airplane in the X-plane series to receive international collaboration~demonstrating the use of thrust-vectoring technologies for performing extremely short takeoff and landing (ESTOL) operations. The U.S. Navy, Germany's defense procurement agency, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, and Boeing Phantom Works had conducted the ESTOL demonstrations, carrying out the final flight on 29 April at Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland. The demonstrations had consisted of a series of fully automated ESTOL landings on an actual runway using a high angle-of-attack landing, proving that an integrated flight-and-propulsion control system had potential use in ESTOL. Such capabilities would give fighter aircraft greater operational flexibility and lower life-cycle costs. (The Boeing Company, “Boeing X-3 1A Vector Completes International Flight Test Program,” news release, 7 May 2003, http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2003/q2/nr_030507a.html (accessed 21 November 2008).
NASA announced that it had selected several radioisotope-based, power-conversion technologies for research and development. The awards represented the first competitive technology procurement funded entirely by NASA's Project Prometheus. The projects covered distinct areas in power-conversion technology: thermoelectrics, thermophotovoltaics, Stirling engines, and Brayton engines. NASA intended the awards to lay the foundation for technology development enabling new classes of missions, such as networked science stations on Mars and small spacecraft capable of complex maneuvers in deep space. Each award would cover three one-year performance periods with continued support from one period to the next, contingent on the program's needs, availability of funds, and each team's ability to meet milestones. The total funding was US$43 million divided into various increments covering fiscal years 2003 to 2006.(NASA, “Advanced Radioisotope-Power Technologies R&D Teams Selected,” contract release c03-n, 7 May 2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/may/HQ_news_c03n.html (accessed 20 November 2008).
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