Artist's concept of the X-34 experimental craft above Earth. Photo: NASA

NASA's first X-34 has completed its transformation from structural test vehicle into flying experimental rocket plane and is ready to begin tests that will lead to its maiden flight later this year.

A government and industry team at Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., added flight computers, electronics, hydraulics, landing gear and other equipment needed to ready the X-34 for unpowered flights at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. With the upgrades comes a new designation. The non-flying X-34 A-1 will now become the A-1A.

Led by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., the team was comprised of engineers and technicians from the Dryden Flight Research Center, the Kennedy Space Center in Fla., and Orbital Sciences Corp of Dulles, Va.

Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., built the A-1, as a structural test article for ground vibration and captive flights while attached to its L-1011 carrier plane. NASA decided in mid-1999 to upgrade the A-1 into a flight vehicle to augment two other flying X-34s -- designated A-2 and A-3 -- now under construction at Orbital's Dulles facility.

"The A-1A is identical to the other flight vehicles except that it lacks the thermal protection system and propulsion system required for high speed, high-altitude flight," said Jeff Sexton, flight-testing and operations project manager for the Pathfinder Program at the Marshall Center, which includes X-34. "But we've added all the flight mechanisms - avionics and wiring, hydraulics, control surfaces, landing gear mechanism and flight software - needed for unpowered flight testing."

The X-34's first tests, likely to begin by mid-February, won't leave the ground. Instead, it will be towed behind a semi-truck for up to 10,000 feet along the desert lakebed at Edwards. Orbital plans to conduct 16 tests. The X-34 will be released at speeds up to 80 mph as a way to prove the craft's guidance and navigation system, nose wheel steering, braking, rudder speed brake and rudder steering.

The X-34 will be attached to the tow truck by a specially designed 500-foot rope with electrical connections to provide communications between the X-34 and ground test engineers.

Orbital's L-1011 jet takes off from Edwards Air Force Base, California, with the X-34 for its first captive carry flight on June 29, 1999. Photo: NASA

After successful ground testing, the A-1A will be attached to Orbital's L-1011 carrier plane, Stargazer, to finish the captive-carry flights required by the FAA to verify the combined aircraft are safe to fly.

Following those tests, the X-34 project transitions to White Sands Missile Range for unpowered flights of the A-1A. The L-1011 will carry it to an altitude of about 35,000 feet and release it to make an automated flight and landing at the White Sands Space Harbor. Five unpowered flights are planned using the A-1A.

"These glide flights will give us an understanding of how the X-34 separates from the L-1011 and its flight characteristics," Sexton said. "We will be able to test its control surface effectiveness, validate the flight software that controls guidance, navigation, final approach, touchdown and landing rollout without risking the two fully functional powered flight vehicles."

The Marshall Center manages the X-34 Project NASA's Lead Center for Space Transportation Systems Development. Dryden Center technicians led the A-1A manufacturing and upgrade work for NASA. Supported by assembly technicians from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., NASA workers gained hands-on experience with the X-34 and its systems. Edwards Air Force Base provided manufacturing support. Orbital led and managed the engineering effort.

"This definitely was a team effort with several organizations working elbow to elbow to put together the A-1A," Sexton said. "Cooperation was outstanding. It's been a real pleasure to see technicians and engineers from multiple government and industry organizations working together as a single team."

The X-34 is a flying laboratory for technologies and operations applicable to future low-cost, reusable launch vehicles. It is one of a family of technology demonstrators aimed at lowering launch costs from $10,000 to $1,000 per pound.

The suborbital X-34 is 58.3 feet (17.77 meters) long and 27.7 feet (8.44 meters) wide. It is capable of flying up to eight times the speed of sound and reaching altitudes of approximately 50 miles. It is scheduled to make a total of 27 unpowered and powered flights from government ranges in New Mexico, California and Florida.