![]() ![]() This portion of the report is comprised of a status report of Lockheed Martin's contribution to the program. This report consists of individual reports from all industry team members, as well as NASA team centers. Lockheed Martin Skunk Works has compiled an Annual Performance Report of the X- 33/RLV Program. Lockheed Martin Skunk Works Single Stage to Orbit/Reusable Launch Vehicle Time between X- 33 flights was normally to have been seven days, but the The vehicle also had lightweight components and fuel tanks built to conform to the vehicle's outer shape. The X- 33 design was based on a lifting body shape with two revolutionary 'linear aerospike' rocket engines and a rugged metallic thermal protection system. NASA expected to be a customer, not the operator, of the commercial RLV. ![]() economic competitiveness in the world-wide launch marketplace. Reducing the cost associated with transporting payloads in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) by using a commercial RLV was to have created new opportunities for space access and significantly improved U.S. A full-scale, single-stage-to-orbit RLV was to have dramatically increased reliability and lowered the costs of putting a pound of payload into space, from the current figure of $10,000 to $1,000. Through demonstration flight and ground research, NASA's X- 33 program was to have provided the information needed for industry representatives such as Lockheed Martin to decide whether to proceed with the development of a full-scale, commercial RLV program. The company had hoped to develop VentureStar early this century. The X- 33 was a wedged-shaped subscale technology demonstrator prototype of a potential future Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) that Lockheed Martin had dubbed VentureStar. The goal of the RLV technology program was to enable significant reductions in the cost of access to space, and to promote the creation and delivery of new space services and other activities that was to have improved U.S. ![]() The RLV technology program was a cooperative agreement between NASA and industry. NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California., expected to play a key role in the development and flight testing of the X- 33. This artist's rendering depicts the NASA/ Lockheed Martin X- 33 technology demonstrator for a Single-Stage-To-Orbit (SSTO) Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) in orbit over the Earth. X- 33 by Lockheed Martin above Earth - Computer Graphic The vehicle also had lightweight components and fuel tanks built to conform to the vehicle Reducing the cost associated with transporting payloads in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) by using a commercial RLV was to have created new opportunities for space access and significantly improve U.S. NASA's Dryden Flight research Center, Edwards, California, was to have had a key role in the development and flight testing of the X- 33. NASA selected Lockheed Martin's design on 2 July 1996. This artist's rendering depicts the Lockheed Martin X- 33 for a technology demonstrator of a Single-Stage-To-Orbit (SSTO) Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV), as submitted in the aerospace company's original proposal. X- 33 Proposal by Lockheed Martin - Computer Graphic ![]()
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