The Boeing X-40 Space Maneuver Vehicle is a test platform for the

Boeing X-37 The Boeing X-37, also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), is a reusable robotic spacecraft. It is boosted into space by a launch vehicle, re-enters Earth's atmosphere, and lands as a spaceplane. The X-37 is operated by the Department of th ...

reusable spaceplane, built by

Boeing Phantom Works Boeing Phantom Works is the advanced prototyping arm of the defense and security side of Boeing. Its primary focus is developing advanced military products and technologies, many of them highly classified. Founded by McDonnell Douglas, the resea ...

. It sought to test the X-37's systems in order to "reduce the cost and risk of future reusable space launch vehicle system".

History

The

uncrewed An uncrewed vehicle or unmanned vehicle is a vehicle without a person on board. Uncrewed vehicles can either be under telerobotic control—remote controlled or remote guided vehicles—or they can be autonomously controlled—autonomous vehicl ...

X-40A was an 80%-90% subscale version of the

reusable spaceplane, but lacking in propulsion or thermal protection systems. Boeing built the X-40A originally for the Air Force as part of that service’s Space Maneuver Vehicle program. The aircraft was built at

Seal Beach, California Seal Beach is a coastal city in Orange County, California, United States. It was originally known as Bay City before it was incorporated into Orange County under its current on October 24, 1911. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,242 ...

, in partnership with the

Air Force Research Laboratory The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is a scientific research and development detachment of the United States Air Force Air Force Materiel Command, Materiel Command dedicated to leading the discovery, development, and integration of direct- ...

. After the first

drop test A drop test is a method of testing the in-flight characteristics of prototype or experimental aircraft, experimental aircraft and spacecraft by raising the test vehicle to a specific altitude and then releasing it. Test flights involving powered ...

in August 1998 the vehicle was transferred to NASA, which modified it. Between April 4 and May 19, 2001, the vehicle successfully conducted seven free flights. In 2001 it successfully demonstrated the glide capabilities of the X-37's fat-bodied, short-winged design and validated the proposed

guidance system A guidance system is a virtual or physical device, or a group of devices implementing a controlling the movement of a ship, aircraft, missile, rocket, satellite, or any other moving object. Guidance is the process of calculating the changes in pos ...

Testing

The first X-40A drop test occurred at

Holloman AFB Holloman Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base established in 1942 located six miles (10 km) southwest of the central business district of Alamogordo, which is the county seat of Otero County, New Mexico, United States. The ba ...

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

on August 11, 1998 at 06:59. It was released from an altitude of approximately and away from the end of Runway 04 by a

UH-60 Black Hawk The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk is a four-blade, twin-engine, medium-lift military utility helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. Sikorsky submitted a design for the United States Army's Utility Tactical Transport Aircraft System (UTTAS) ...

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

(later tests used an Army CH-47D Chinook helicopter). The vehicle dove to the

runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...

in an

approach Approach may refer to: Aviation *Visual approach *Instrument approach * Final approach Music * ''Approach'' (album), by Von Hertzen Brothers * ''The Approach'', an album by I:Scintilla Other uses *Approach Beach, a gazetted beach in Ting Kau, H ...

similar to the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

's, flared, and landed left of the runway centerline. Its

drag chutes A drogue parachute, also called drag chute, is a parachute designed for deployment from a rapidly moving object. It can be used for various purposes, such as to decrease speed, to provide control and stability, as a pilot parachute to deploy ...

successfully deployed, and the vehicle tracked to within of the centerline and stopped at a distance of slightly more than . The X-40A flew seven approach and landing test flights at NASA’s Dryden (now Armstrong) Flight Research Center in

Edwards, California Edwards (formerly, Muroc and Wherry Housing) is an unincorporated community in Kern County, California. It is located east-southeast of Mojave, about northeast of Lancaster, east of Rosamond, and south of California City at an elevatio ...

, in 2001 to reduce risk for the X-37 program, including in-flight evaluation of guidance, navigation and control software for its autonomous flight controls. One test flight the craft was towed by an Army CH-47D Chinook helicopter to an altitude of 15,000 feet, and then released to fly an autonomously controlled 75-second descent to a landing on the main runway at

Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, California, Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County, California, San Bernardino County and a souther ...

, where it then glided and guided itself.

Specifications (X-40A)

References

External links

NASA Dryden X-40A Image Gallery

{{AFRL spacecraft X-40 Spaceplanes X-40, Boeing 1990s United States military gliders V-tail aircraft Military space program of the United States Air Force Research Laboratory projects Low-wing aircraft Aircraft with retractable tricycle landing gear Glider aircraft

History

Testing

Specifications (X-40A)

See also

References

External links