there's a possibility that NASA probably wanted to use the X-34 airframes for ground tests of a rocket to be used on the Dream Chaser, given that Dream Chaser is undergoing captive carrying tests and will soon undergo drop tests.
Quote from: VDD1991 on 09/22/2013 05:51 pm there's a possibility that NASA probably wanted to use the X-34 airframes for ground tests of a rocket to be used on the Dream Chaser, given that Dream Chaser is undergoing captive carrying tests and will soon undergo drop tests. There is no possibility of NASA doing that since Dream Chaser is a SNC project and NASA has no role in its actual development. There is little chase of SNC doing the same test.
I agree that it's unlikely to be NASA. But on the SNC point, Jim, are you speaking from specific knowledge of the SNC project or from more general knowledge?
The X-34 airframes are back at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. They are sitting over in the Shuttle area. The main landing gear was pulled off one of them to be used on the Dream Chaser.
Quote from: brtbrt on 09/23/2013 03:21 amI agree that it's unlikely to be NASA. But on the SNC point, Jim, are you speaking from specific knowledge of the SNC project or from more general knowledge?It isn't unlikely, it is not happening for NASA. As for SNC, it is general knowledge.
To answer the question of where it is today, here is imagery from today.
What was it that the X-34 was supposed do that would not have been demonstrated by the X-33 or the X-37?
how it fit into NASA's lifeboat studies for the ISS.
I think that the X-34 example raises an interesting question of the purpose of X-planes. That has changed numerous times over the years. Is the goal to test new technology, explore different flight regimes, or demonstrate that certain things are possible so that commercial industry can then take over? It really has shifted, sometimes program to program and other times by eras, depending upon who is in charge at NASA. And the agency has gone a long period without X-planes. The X-59 (that long spiky one) is sorta a big deal for the agency. They were advised that they needed to do something flashy to restore interest in their flight testing program, so they went big.
What is NASA's all electric testbed called? Is that an X plane? If not it out to be with the counter rotating wing tip propellers and multiple engines and such.
The ultimate irony of course being that Soyuz is still there as of 2019, as lifeboat and main crew vehicle of the ISS.