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starship-design: FW: SSRT: Various X-33 press releases
-----Original Message-----
From: Chris W. Johnson [SMTP:chrisj@mail.utexas.edu]
Sent: Monday, November 17, 1997 8:50 PM
To: Single Stage Rocket Technology News
Subject: SSRT: Various X-33 press releases
Two X-33 Press Releases:
1. NASA Completes X-33 Environmental Impact Statement Process
2. X-33 Launch Facility Groundbreaking Held
--------------------------------------------------------------
Jim Cast
Headquarters, Washington, DC November 5, 1997
(Phone: 202/358-1779)
Dom Amatore
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL
(Phone: 205/544-0031)
Ron Lindeke
Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, Palmdale, CA
(Phone: 805/572-4153)
RELEASE: 97-254
NASA COMPLETES X-33 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT PROCESS
NASA yesterday completed its Record of Decision (ROD) on
the X-33 Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), announcing it
intends to proceed with the preferred X-33 flight test program
as described in the Final EIS issued Oct. 3.
Signing of the decision document yesterday by Dr. Robert E.
Whitehead, NASA Associate Administrator for Aeronautics and
Space Transportation Technology, concludes a 12-month EIS
process of assessing the development and flight test of the
X-33, a subscale technology demonstrator prototype of a
Reusable Launch Vehicle.
All 15 test flights of the X-33 will be conducted from the
launch site at Haystack Butte on the eastern portion of Edwards
Air Force Base, CA, to landing sites at Michael Army Air Field,
Dugway Proving Ground, UT, and Malmstrom Air Force Base near
Great Falls, MT.
A third landing site, Silurian Lake, a dry lake bed near
Baker, CA, had been considered for use as a short-range landing
site. However, flights into Dugway's airfield some 450 miles
from Edwards better match the initial flight demonstration
requirements.
The X-33 environmental study considered issues such as
public safety, noise, impacts on general aviation, and effects
on biological, natural and other resources. Two launch sites
and five landing sites were evaluated for potential use. The
final decision on a flight test program was based on
programmatic, technical, and other considerations as well as
environmental factors. Overall, environmental impacts of the
program are expected to be low at all operational sites.
Now that the environmental process for the X-33 has been
completed, the next major program milestone is groundbreaking
for the launch facility at Edwards Air Force Base.
Construction crews are scheduled to begin work this week.
Construction is scheduled to be completed within a year.
The X-33 is being developed under a cooperative agreement
between NASA and Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, Palmdale, CA,
which began July 2, 1996.
NASA has budgeted $941 million for the X-33 program through
1999. Lockheed Martin will invest at least $212 million in the
X-33 program.
The X-33 is a sub-scale technology demonstrator prototype
of a Reusable Launch Vehicle, which Lockheed Martin has named
"Venture Star (tm)," and which the company hopes to develop
early in the next century. Through demonstration flights and
ground research, the X-33 will provide information needed for
industry to decide by the year 2000 whether to proceed to the
development of a full-scale, commercial single-stage-to-orbit
reusable launch vehicle.
- end -
NOTE TO EDITORS: The two-volume Final Environmental Impact
Statement is available on the Internet at URL (approximately
1,025 pages with appendices):
http://eemo.msfc.nasa.gov/eemo/x33_eis
An electronic version of the 45-page executive summary is
available at (1 MB file in Portable Document Format):
http://eemo.msfc.nasa.gov/eemo/x33_eis/x-33_pdf/executive_summary.pdf
Print versions of the document are available for review in the
NASA Headquarters and Marshall Space Flight Center newsrooms.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Jim Cast
Headquarters, Washington, DC November 14, 1997
(Phone: 202/358-1779)
Fred Brown
Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA
(Phone: 805/258-2663)
Dom Amatore
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL
(Phone: 205/544-0031)
Ron Lindeke
Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, Palmdale, CA
(Phone: 805/572-4153)
Ranney Adams
USAF Research Laboratory, Propulsion Directorate
Edwards Air Force Base, CA
(Phone: 805/275-5465)
RELEASE: 97-266
X-33 LAUNCH FACILITY GROUNDBREAKING HELD
Representatives from NASA, the U.S. Air Force and industry
today broke ground at the launch site for the X-33 Advanced
Technology Demonstrator during a ceremony at Edwards Air Force
Base, CA.
The 25-acre launch site is located on the eastern portion of
Edwards, a few hundred yards north of what is known as Haystack
Butte. The beginning of construction for X-33 launch facilities
marks another major milestone for the program -- milestones which
have included, during the last two weeks, the successful
completion of a critical design review for the vehicle and closing
out of the environmental impact statement process for X-33. All
15 planned test flights of the X-33 will be launched from the
Edwards facility beginning in July 1999. Landing sites are
Michael Army Air Field at Dugway Proving Ground, UT, and Malmstrom
Air Force Base, MT.
Approximately 100 workers will construct the $30 million
launch facility, with work scheduled to be completed in a year.
Sverdrup Corp., St. Louis, MO, is overseeing construction of the
facility.
Site plans include a retractable vehicle shelter; a rotating
vehicle launch mount; storage areas for the liquid hydrogen and
liquid oxygen used for fuel, and helium and liquid nitrogen used
in vehicle operations; a water storage tank for the sound
suppression system; a concrete flame trench; and assorted site
infrastructure. The vehicle's operations control center will be
located in an existing test control room within Haystack Butte.
NASA and the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works are conducting the
X-33 program under a cooperative agreement. The X-33 is a
subscale technology demonstration prototype of a commercial
Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) Lockheed Martin has labeled
"VentureStar (tm)," which the company hopes to develop early in
the next century. Through development and demonstration flights,
the X-33 will provide the information needed for industry to
decide by the year 2000 whether to proceed with the development of
a full-scale, commercial RLV program.
A full-scale, single-stage-to-orbit RLV could dramatically
increase reliability and lower the cost of putting a pound of
payload into space from $10,000 to $1,000. By reducing the cost
associated with transporting payloads into Low Earth Orbit, a
commercial RLV would create new opportunities for space access and
significantly improve U.S. economic competitiveness in the
worldwide launch marketplace. NASA will be a customer on, not the
operator of, an industry-developed RLV.
- end -