European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 29, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tote concorde la capable of firing at twice Tho Speed Oti Ruml. Al Langley research Canter. Va., Tot nautical engineers steal work on the development of an air plane that could Fly at 25 horns the Speed Ormound. Fast planes for the future and we Are going Forward with research on a new Orient Eire is that could by the end of the next decade take off from Dulles Airport accelerate up to 25 times the Speed of sound attaining Low Earth orbit or lying to Tokyo within two  president Reagan state of the Union address feb. 4,tss6. By Harry f Rosenthal associated press he idea has a Nice Ling to it Tokyo in iwo hours 2ooming Over the Earlh at 25 times the Speed it sound. Crossing the Pacific in an air plane so. Revolutionary the space Shullie and the concorde become old hat. Third Mii Lanium Hore we coma. That air plane or something like it is taking shape Al Langley research Center. And other Nasa centers in bils and pieces a Model is assaulted in a wind Tunnel by4,800-Mph blasts in temperatures hundreds of degrees botox Zero an Electron beam illuminates sir How around a scaled Down plane a sleek Cylinder zips through a water Hough 3,000 feel Long sensitive to every nuance of resistance a photograph captures Shock wave and heat patterns in ghostly hues of Goon. Orange yellow Blue and Magenta the most powerful computer Ever built ingests world class problems and spits out answers a Standard air plane circles Over Chesapeake Bay. Piloted not irom the Standard cockpit in rent but Horn a second All electronic one in its passenger Section the i talc a in Nasa the aeronautics part of National aeronautics and space administration is Nof As hash As Tho big a and gets Only 7 percent of the Agency s budget bul its accomplishments Brush our lives in thousands of ways. A poultry Plant in Marietta. Ga., is quieter because of Nasa aeronautics water qualy in Many places is improved because of aeronautics technology firemen Wear belter protective clothing. We Are called the space Agency by Many probably including  Jeremiah f. Creedon. The director Loi flight systems Al the Langley research Center tolls a visitor a bit of resignation in his voice. Many of us Here think the a is a Large  Langley s work is divided roughly 60 percent aeronautics 40 percent space Wilh a Holly dose of military work in both. Wilh other Nasa research centers Ames and in Den in California and Lewis in Ohio its business is to develop technology and pass it on without Cost to aircraft companies Tho Federal government has played that Tole Horn the Star of its involvement 70 years ago. Tho Agency has never built an air plane bul few planes by today without engines designs materials and structures conceived at Nasa. We Are doing research that benefits the  says Creedon. Ii is available to Boeing Lockheed and Mcdonnell Douglas whoever wants to build transport or High performance  no single company alone could Allord Nasa s $2 billion investment in wind tunnels. There at Langley they Don t talk Boul the Orient express it Seither Ihen Asp the Valiona aerospace plane or better yet the x-30. Next in a string of experimental planes that began with Chuck Yeager s it breaker of the sound Barrier when president Reagan made his Rosy prediction about the Orient express a week alter the challenger space shut lie disaster engineers had already taken years to decide the x-30 was possible. Reagan s Ono paragraph announcement signalled the Start of phase 2, perfecting the technology which will last until to summer of 1990. When engineers will Taka a hard look at where Iriney stand and decide whether to build the x-30, phase 3, in the mid-90s, would see the aerospace plane begin night tests that would finish As the 21st Century begins. Thai s the timetable or the largest experimental aircraft project Ever undertaken by the United Stales. Ii will Cost $3.3 billion. Clearly Nasa and the air Force which is sharing the Cost have something More practical in mind than building one or two prototype planes merely to prove it can be done Tho military and package delivery firms such As Federal express and  Are the Only ones Likely to have use for a plane flying 25 limes the Speed of sound last enough to gel into orbit. But the aerospace plane will provide the technology Tor the somewhat slower but tar More useful aircraft of the future. There is tremendous potential for All kinds of vehicles operating at High Mach numbers says Douglas Zwoyer manager of hypersonic technology at Langley. The National aerospace program is aimed Al an experimental aircraft to demonstrate technologies Lor this family of hypersonic alter  the Speed of sound which varies with temperature and density of Ait. Is represented by a Mach number. Air planes that Fly below Mach 1 Are subsonic. 1ho=o that by iss a arc supersonic those that Fly morn than live limes the Speed of sound above Mach 5, to designated hypersonic. To escape the atmosphere into Zibil a plane must achieve much 25. So Lar the big air plane manufacturers Havo Little interest in building passenger aircraft thai Fly Al Mach 25, no Mailer what the president said. They do want Lor Iho years 2000 to 2010. A supersonic air plane capable of flying at Mach 2 to Mach 3,5, Al Mach Al a trip from los Angeles id Tokyo would Lake just under four hours compared with 12 to 14 hours subsonic. The Ideal Mach number is one of the big questions lacing the engineers. The United Stales researched a supersonic transport the 5st, in the 1960s, bul dropped the program in 1970 because of costs. Tho space shuttle had bean designed the Apollo Moon program was winding Down and there gee mod no need Lor space missions to Quiring re entry with the accompanying hypersonic speeds. In addition the Price of Jot fuel which had been 10 cents a gallon when research started jumped to 11.30. While american interest dropped the British and French produced the concorde a plane capable of twice the Speed of sound. But its birth coincided with heightened environmental concerns and the sonic Boom scared people Many governments including the United Stales barred it irom flying Over land. Moreover the concorde was designed Wilh 60s technology and carries barely enough Luel to make ii across the Atlantic. Concorde is restricted to Over water flights under 2.200-Mlles Long end there Aren t Many oceans that Small says Roy Harris jr., director of aeronautics at Langley. I think concorde is designed Loo Small it can carry Only 100 people and it s cramped. All our studies say you really want 200 to 250 passengers Lor an economically viable set Karris sees a real need Tor an set. If you look at Tho demographics Al air travel the Pacific rim is the fastest growing International Market he says. It s growing Al a Rale twice that of the Market Between the . And  the United Stales is nol alone in its set interest. Tho British Havo a project called hotel that s vaguely similar to Tho x-30, and the French Are working on the Hermes space plane which requires hypersonic technology for re entry. There is big interest in the soviet Union in the engines that will Power hypersonic Light and the japanese Are talking about building a shuttle. Despite such Competition the United Stales treats its aeronautics limb As a poor relative. In a $9 billion Nasa budget the spending Lor this year s aeronautics red is $430 million Wilh j53 million of that earmarked for the aerospace plane. Harris says if the United states wants to develop a supersonic transport to be ready in the first decade of the 21 St Century it will have to commit $000 million Over the next five to seven years. Conent spending is s3 million a year. Money is a sensitive Issue at Langley. Until 1970. The . Jet transport Industry had 90 percent of the Long Range Market. Now that percentage is Down to 70. Aerospace exports grew from $1.7 billion in i960 to $25 billion in 1987. Bul imports increased Horn $61 million to $7.9 billion in Large part due to the Success of the european Airbus industries consortium. Dwoyer says the aerospace Type plane is a concept so revolutionary thai whoever gels it first will have a tremendous leg up in the next Century. And in the United Stales in t in front he says we might be flying the Pacific rim in a Honda. Page 16 the stars and stripes sunday May z9,1988