Oct 8 2003
From The Space Library
NASA announced its selection of Allied Aerospace Industries of Tullahoma, Tennessee, to manufacture three flight-ready experimental demonstrator vehicles for the X-43C project, a NASA-led initiative. NASA's LaRC had led the team, comprising members from the U.S. Air Force and from the aerospace industry, to design and develop the X-43C demonstrator vehicle and propulsion system. Following the example of the Hyper-X (X43-A), a vehicle designed to demonstrate short-duration, scramjet-powered flight at Mach 7 and Mach 10, the creators of the X-43C intended it to demonstrate free flight of a scramjet-powered vehicle, with acceleration capability between Mach 5 and Mach 7. Allied Aerospace Industries had also developed the X43-A vehicle. The Air Force had provided a dual-mode scramjet capable of operating as a ramjet or scramjet for the X-43C vehicles. The cost-plus-fixed-fee completion-type contract that NASA awarded to Allied Aerospace Industries was valued at US$150 million over 66 months, covering all work through completion of the Preliminary Design Review; options covered the final design, hardware fabrication, and all support activities. X-43C Project Manager Paul L. Moses remarked that the demonstrator vehicle would validate advanced technologies, design tools, and test techniques for designing reusable space-access vehicles in the future. (NASA, “NASA Selects Allied Team To Provide Hypersonic Vehicles,” contract release C03-ll, 8 October 2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/oct/HQ_c03ll_x43c.html (accessed 27 January 2009); Brian Berger, “Hypersonic Efforts Get an Extra Boost: NASA, Air Force Providing $150 Million for Test Program,” Space News, 21 October 2003.
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