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http://www.spaceprogram.co.uk/x38/x38.html
The Vehicles
The X-38 design closely resembles the X-24A lifting body flown at Dryden from April 1969 to 1971. Wingless lifting bodies generate aerodynamic lift - essential to flight in the atmosphere - from the shape of their bodies.
The 28 research missions flown by the X-24A helped demonstrate that hypersonic vehicles like the space shuttle returning from orbital flight could be landed on conventional runways without power. The X-24A was modified in 1970 and designated the X-24B in 1971, the last lifting body configuration was tested in the 12-year research program at Dryden.
The three prototype X-38s used in the atmospheric flight testing program are 24.5 feet long, 11.6 feet wide, and 8.4 feet high, approximately 80 percent of the planned size of the CRV. The prototypes are designated V131, V132, and V131R. The V131 prototype was modified for additional testing beginning in the summer of 2000 and now carries the designation V131R. A fourth prototype, V133, will incorporate the exact shape and size of the planned CRV.
The atmospheric test vehicles, built by Scaled Composites, Mojave, Calif., are shells made of composite materials such as fiberglass and graphite epoxy, and strengthened with steel and aluminum at stress points. Vehicle weights range from 15,000 pounds to about 25,000 pounds. They land on skids - reminiscent of the famed X-15 research aircraft - instead of wheels.
The fourth X-38 in the program will be V201, the space-rated vehicle that will be flown back to Earth from an orbiting space shuttle. NASA is constructing it at the Johnson Space Center. Its inner compartment, representing the crew area, will be a pressurized aluminum chamber. A composite fuselage structure will enclose the chamber and the exterior surfaces will be covered with a Thermal Protection System (TPS) to withstand the heat generated by air friction as the vehicle returns to Earth through the atmosphere. The TPS will be similar to materials used on the space shuttles, but much more durable - carbon and metallic-silica tiles for the hottest regions, and flexible blanket-like material for areas receiving less heat during atmospheric reentry.
Much of the technology being used in the X-38 is off-the-shelf, but that doesn't mean it is old or out-dated.
The flight control computer and the flight software operating system are commercially developed and used in many aerospace applications. The space-flight X-38 prototypes will have newly designed actuators.
The current electro-mechanical actuators that move the vehicle's flight control surfaces for pitch, yaw, and roll control have been used on earlier NASA, Air Force, and Navy aeronautical research projects.
Inertial navigation and global positioning systems, similar to units used on aircraft throughout the world, will be linked to the vehicle's flight control system to automatically steer the vehicles along the correct reentry path during atmospheric tests and during the space flight test.
Using global positioning already programmed into the navigation system, the flight control computer becomes the autopilot that flies the vehicle to a predetermined landing site.
The U.S. Army originally developed the design of the parafoil that deploys in the atmosphere and carries the X-38 to Earth. The shroud lines of the steerable parachute are attached to risers linked to actuators controlled by the flight control system. The flight control system receives inputs from the inertial navigation and global positioning units to determine where the vehicle is and steers the parachute until it gets to its destination. During the descending flight, the direction and speed of any winds are calculated by the flight control system and steerage corrections are automatically made. The parafoil guidance system also predicts wind direction across the landing zone and automatically turns the vehicle up wind for a safe landing.
During atmospheric tests at Dryden, the X-38s are dropped from the wing pylon of NASA's B-52 launch aircraft at altitudes ranging from 25,000 feet to 45,000 feet. The higher altitudes give engineers more time to study vehicle aerodynamics and handling qualities during its controlled, unpiloted gliding descent before the steerable parachute is deployed.
GenCorp Aerojet, Sacramento, Calif., is developing the propulsion unit that will be used during the X-38 de-orbit tests. After the X-38 is released from the shuttle cargo bay, the small aft-mounted deorbit rocket will be fired to slow the vehicle's speed to let gravity begin pulling it back to Earth. The rocket unit will be jettisoned during the descent phase. The same deorbit propulsion unit will more than likely be used on CRVs operating with the International Space Station.
A Flush Air Data Sensing System (FADS) developed at Dryden is being used on the X-38 to collect vehicle air speed and attitude (pitch and yaw) data. This information is fed into the flight control computer to maintain the desired flight path. FADS uses tiny ports to collect the aerodynamic data instead of using conventional probes that extend into the air stream. FADS data is also monitored by test personnel on the ground during test flights.
A bank of storage batteries will provide electrical power on each of the X-38 test vehicles to operate the avionics, navigation, guidance, flight control, and parachute steering systems.
The X-38 that will be test flown from the space shuttle and the future CRV itself will use nitrogen gas attitude control systems for guidance and control during flight in space where conventional control surfaces are ineffective.
http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Newsroom/FactSheets/FS-038-DFRC.html
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мне бы столько денег, я бы дывно уже на этой штуке летал
Цитироватьмне бы столько денег, я бы дывно уже на этой штуке летал
I like this one:
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/76533.jpg)
Цитироватьмне бы столько денег, я бы дывно уже на этой штуке летал
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/76534.jpg)
Y3Hae"Te???