Aerospace Research and Development

Marshall Space Flight Center

Marshall Space Flight Center is NASA's premier organization for developing space transportation, advancing propulsion concepts, as well as carrying out cutting-edge microgravity and optics research. Situated on 1,800 acres in Huntsville, Alabama, Marshall has played a leadership role in such efforts as developing the Saturn rockets used in the Apollo lunar landing program and managing the construction of the Skylab space station, the Space Shuttle Main Engine, as well as the powerful Hubble Space Telescope.

As NASA's lead center for space transportation systems development, Marshall's talents are well suited to pursue a mix of next-generation space transportation. "We are going on to revolutionary new propulsion technology and have an opportunity to perhaps, in some ways, relive those old days of being pioneers again," explains Arthur G. Stephenson, director of Marshall.

Engineers at Marshall's Huntsville Operations Support Center (HOSC) perform analysis of activities during a Microgravity Science Lab simulation.

Marshall is managing the X-33, X-34, and Future-X programs. This trio of programs is tackling the difficult task of lowering the cost of low-Earth orbit, first from $10,000 to $1,000 per aircraft pound, then to as low as $100 per aircraft pound. As the flagship technology demonstrator for reusable launch vehicles (RLVs), under construction by the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, the X-33 is to help cut the expense of access to space. This unpiloted, wedge-shaped rocket is slated to begin suborbital flight tests in mid-2000. It will reach an altitude of up to 50 miles and accelerate to between 13 to 15 times the speed of sound. As many as 15 flights of the X-33 are planned.

Another reusable, suborbital vehicle is the X-34. Built for air-launch and able to rocket as high as 50 miles in altitude, the X-34 is to reach speeds of up to eight times the speed of sound. This vehicle will demonstrate the ability to fly through inclement weather, land horizontally at a designated landing site, and safely abort a flight. The X-34 is to be capable of performing 27 flight tests within a period of one year, at an average recurring cost of approximately $500,000, and of demonstrating operations with a small work force. It will also demonstrate a 24-hour turnaround between two flights. The X-34 is to begin a series of test hops in late 1999. Powering the X-34 is the Fastrac engine, designed and developed by Marshall engineers. Orbital Sciences Corporation of Dulles, Virginia, is developing the X-34 under Marshall contract.

The Marshall-managed Future-X initiative encompasses the X-37, an unpiloted orbital craft that would autonomously land after re-entry. Marshall is working with the Boeing Phantom Works at Seal Beach, California, on the X-37 vehicle. This program is a key step toward achieving NASA's goal of a $1,000 per pound cost, or lower, to place spacecraft into orbit. A follow-up concept is the 21^st century Spaceliner 100, a Marshall-designed vehicle that could feature revolutionary air-breathing rocket engines, which would be catapulted skyward from a magnetically levitated launch rail system. Also under study at Marshall are beamed energy, nuclear, and solar electric propulsion ideas, as are pulse detonation engines, and high-energy propellants.

Research to lower the cost of thrust chamber assembly is conducted by a Marshall scientist to significantly reduce the costs associated with thrust chamber/injector development and fabrication.

Marshall is responsible for the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana. At this site, the Space Shuttle's huge external tank is manufactured. The center also is responsible for the assembly and refurbishment of the Shuttle's solid rocket motors, which is completed at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Microgravity research is also underway at Marshall, with scientists partnered with the scientific community and commercial industry to study the effects of gravity on biological, chemical, and physical systems. NASA uses ground-based research and experiments on the Space Shuttle and the upcoming International Space Station to explore the impact of microgravity on processes. That research is offering insight into improving commercial products, including crystals, metals, ceramics, glasses, and biological materials. Marshall scientists believe that the opportunities offered by microgravity science are vast.

Engineers at Marshall specialize in optical systems for NASA's orbiting telescopes, such as the Chandra x-ray observatory and the future Solar X-ray Imager, developed to provide continuous, near real-time images of the Sun. Marshall expertise is also guiding optical work on NASA's Next-Generation Space Telescope (NGST). Set for launch around 2007, NGST will study the birth of the first galaxies, the shape and fate of the universe, the formation of stars and planets, the chemical evolution of the universe, and the nature of dark matter. Beyond NGST, ultra-lightweight and deployable mirrors for advanced space telescopes are being investigated.

Marshall is making significant contributions to the International Space Station program. Making use of manufacturing facilities provided by Marshall, Boeing has supplied major station elements, like the Unity connecting node and the Destiny laboratory module. Marshall is home to the Payload Operation Integration Center, the science operations gateway to the Space Station. Thanks to a Telescience Resource Kit developed at Marshall, scientists on the ground can remotely monitor and operate their Space Station experiments. Yet another task undertaken at Marshall is the water-recycling and oxygen-generating systems for the U.S. segment of the Space Station.

From air-breathing rocket engines to beamed energy, space tether research, and microgravity science on the International Space Station, Marshall is maximizing its scientific and technological talent in preparation for the next millennium.

An engineer at one of Marshall's vacuum chambers tests a microthruster model. Data gathered from the testing provide information on propulsion in microgravity.