From: skunk-works-digest-owner@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu To: skunk-works-digest@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu Subject: Skunk Works Digest V3 #75 Reply-To: skunk-works-digest@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu Errors-To: skunk-works-digest-owner@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu Precedence: bulk Skunk Works Digest Tuesday, 13 July 1993 Volume 03 : Number 075 In this issue: New DC-X Info In the desert skies tonight Re: In the desert skies tonight See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the skunk-works or skunk-works-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: larry@ichips.intel.com Date: Mon, 12 Jul 1993 11:27:09 -0700 Subject: New DC-X Info Doug Reeder of the Oregon L-5 society (our local space enthusiast group), sent me the following information (wish I could have gone Sat.!): I don't think he'd mind me posting it to skunk.works. After all, even though it's a white project, it's pretty advanced. There's some basic information about DC-X and some new information I haven't heard before. >Highlights of Dr. William Gaubatz's talk on the DC-X at OMSI >presented by the Oregon L-5 Society on 10 July 1993 > >by P. Douglas Reeder > > Dr. Gaubatz, the Program Manager of the DC-X, spent the >first half of the talk explaining the benefits of space & >the need for cheap transportation. Since the DC-X flies >itself, only two people are need to watch over the >spacecraft's systems and one to monitor the ground systems. >It is projected that the Delta Clipper will require only >seven mechanics and technicians to round out the team. >About twenty five to thirty DC-X people are needed at White >Sands for the test flights. > Control is by a combination of the main engines, which >gimbal up to 8 degrees, four aerodynamic flaps, and a >reaction control system, the thrusters of which have about >500 pounds thrust. One of the important concepts to be >verified in the flight tests is blended control using the >engines and flaps together. The pitchover from nose >forward lifting-body flight to rocket hover just before >landing is started with the flaps, which are retracted as >the maneuver progresses, and finished with the main engines. >Airspeed is down to a few hundred knots by the time this >maneuver starts. The DC-X is designed to be able to take >off in 30 knot winds, with gusts up to 40 knots. The second >test series will include flight tests with ground winds. > Concepts already verified include aircraft-style >operation using cryogenic propellants, and rapid prototyping >- moving from plans to flight tests in eighteen months. > The software was written by a package called Matrix-X. >Designers feed in equations and the package outputs Ada >code, which is compiled without being further modified by >humans, eliminating most of the need for testing, according >to Dr. Gaubatz, and allowing a new version of flight >software to be created in two days. > The thrust to weight ratio at takeoff is 1.2, with a >sizable power reserve. > The first series of test flights is projected to begin >sometime between the 23rd and 28th of July at White Sands >Missile Range. The exact date should be known a week or so >in advance. The public is invited, but you must make >reservations in advance, because of White Sands security >restrictions. The tests will be carried on NASA Select, if >the scheduling works out. Static firing tests have been >completed, but now the equipment must be moved over a >mountain to the flight range and checked out, there are >other groups using White Sands, and thunderstorms are >severe, if infrequent. > A short videotape entitled "DCX - The Future is Now" is >available from McDonnell Douglas. Contact Tim Shumate at >McDonnell Douglass Space Systems Division, Mail Stop 11-3, >5501 Bolsa Av., Huntington Beach, CA 92647. No videotape of >Dr. Gaubatz's talk was made. > Current plans call for another prototype between the >DC-X and the orbital prototype DC-Y. The configuration is >uncertain, but it would the same materials that would be >used on the DC-Y, and may be twice the size of the DC-X. >After its flight tests, it would be available for suborbital >space payloads, with a free-fall time of five to fifteen >minutes. > >*** This ends the information from Dr. Gaubatz > > The science and technology subcommitte of the House armed >services committee will take a vote Tuesday that includes the DC-X >followup program. Oregonians in District 1 can contact Elizabeth >Furse, who is on the subcommittee (at 1-800-422-4003), to tell her >of their interest in the project. >As best we have been able to determine, she is against >it at present because of misinformation on the environmental impact. >We are attempting to get correct information to her before the vote. >Voters in the districts of other subcommittee members may wish to get >in touch with their representatives before the vote. > >Doug Reeder You may find the following helpful if you decide to call Eliz. Furse's office. It was originally posted by Henry Vanderbilt to sci.space: >SX-2 would start out under BMDO (formerly SDIO), so support from members of >the House and Senate Armed Services Committees (HASC and SASC) is vital. >The actual name they know SX-2 by is "followon funding for BMDO's SSRT >(Single Stage Rocket Technology) program." The specific action we're calling >for is for Congress to "fence off" $75 million in BMDO funding for this >project next year -- we are not asking for any new funding authority. Larry Smith ------------------------------ From: Mary Shafer Date: Tue, 13 Jul 1993 01:26:27 -0400 (EDT) Subject: In the desert skies tonight We were on our way home from running some errands tonight when we looked up and saw a two-man of F-117s, one black, one gray. They weren't doing anything special--they had just turned right out of the Plant 42 pattern and they were fairly low and fairly slow--a couple hundred knots and 1000--2000 ft. This was about 2030. I think they've been flying at about this time pretty regularly; I hear them fairly often over my house--these two, like the others, would have overflown it. Regards, Mary Mary Shafer DoD #0362 KotFR shafer@ursa-major.spdcc.com ------------------------------ From: Rick Pavek Date: Tue, 13 Jul 1993 00:10:14 -0700 Subject: Re: In the desert skies tonight or "Life under the flight pattern". Must be nice. The gray one intrigues me (as it must others). Do you see that color often? My question leads to the thought "Is it a test bird or are they getting new paint?" I assume that they're coming out of Plant 42 after upgrades... Rick kuryakin@halcyon.com ------------------------------ End of Skunk Works Digest V3 #75 ******************************** To subscribe to skunk-works-digest, send the command: subscribe skunk-works-digest in the body of a message to "listserv@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu". 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