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2\21 Japan - NASDA Report No 127 - 2003 JAN
Part 1 of 3

NASDA Report
No.127 2003 JAN.

C O N T E N T S

* Successful Completion of High Speed Flight Demonstration Phase I
* Leaders of Space Agencies Met in Tokyo to Discuss about ISS Project
* Front Line of Advanced and Common Technology Research 9
* Let Us Talk to Space Challengers


Successful Completion of High Speed Flight Demonstration Phase I
----------------------------------------------------------------

Three flights were conducted in Christmas Island, Kiribati.
_____________________________________________________________________


Phase I and Phase II Flight Demonstrations
------------------------------------------
NASDA and National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan (NAL) have been
jointly conducting the High Speed Flight Demonstrations as a part of
the research and development effort of the Reusable Launch Vehicles,
which would make space transport "cheap, safe and accessible to
anyone".

Among the technological problems arise in the return trip of the space 
transport from orbit, High Speed Flight Demonstration asses the
technologies for final segment of the flight. It consists of Phase I
and Phase II flight test projects.

There are two objectives for Phase I. One aims to evaluate the
technologies associated with high angle approach and landing that are
characteristics for the return flight of winged reusable space
transport (such as projected HOPE-X and U.S. Space Shuttles), and the
other is to develop the autonomous flight technologies needed for
unmanned vehicles, including the automated take off and landing
abilities.


Three Flights of Phase I Flight Experiment
------------------------------------------
From August to November 2002, Phase I flight demonstration was
conducted on the Christmas Island in Republic of Kiribati, located
right on the equator in the Pacific Ocean.

Flight preparations, including the maintenance and inspection of the
vehicle, and the inspection of the runways, start from late night
prior to the flight test. Then, as the dawn of the day approaches, the 
vehicle receives the command from the ground facility and takes off 
into the air, leaving the roaring jet engine noise.

Three flight tests were conducted, and all of them were successfully
completed.

Basic performances of the automated flight, as well as the functioning 
of the onboard equipments were checked in the first flight test. 
During this test, vehicle was found to re-float after the landing, but 
the appropriate majors eliminated this problem in the subsequent 
flights.

In the second flight test, the vehicle made the landing approach that
is as half as steep as the actual winged spacecrafts' glide path, and
made a successful landing.

For the third flight test, the vehicle was flown in an extremely steep 
flight path employed by the winged spacecraft, ability to follow the 
flight path was validated and the radio transmission characteristics 
data was obtained.


Phase II Flight Demonstration to Follow
---------------------------------------
The next step, High Speed Flight Demonstration Phase II will be
conducted from April to August 2003 at Esrange test range (Sweden) in
cooperation with French Space Agency, Centre National d'Etudes
Spatiales (CNES).

Phase II Flight Demonstration reviews the technological problems
arises in the flight around sonic speed. The test will be conducted by 
dropping the test vehicle from high altitude balloon.

The technology obtained through Phase I and II will be utilized for
the research and development of reusable space transport.


Flight Pattern and the Results

Flight No.      Maximum     Maximum     Approach       Flight
                Altitude    Speed        Angle          Time
1st Flight        600m      290km/h     3 degrees    Approx. 10min.
2nd Flight       2500m      340km/h     13 degrees   Approx. 20min.
3rdFlight        5000m      485km/h     25 degrees   Approx. 20min.

Flight Path Tracing Performance and the Takeoff and Landing
Performance

         Takeoff         Landing Performance         Flight Path
                                                       Tracing
        Performace                                   Performace
Flight Speed   Rollout  Horizontal Landing Rollout   Horiz   Vert
 No.           Distance Position   Speed   Distance  Dir     Dir
                        at Landing                     *1     *2

1st    212km/h 448m       -4.7m    227km/h 1229m - -   -       -
Flight
2nd    209km/h 457m       -1.8m    212km/h 1133m     +11m     -3m
Flight
3rd    216km/h 488m       -0.7m    223km/h 1260m     -13m     -4m
Flight

*1) Maximum horizontal deviation at the straight path against the
commanded position. 

*2) Maximum altitude deviation at the leveled glide simulation
against command altitude. 



Leaders of Space Agencies Met in Tokyo to Discuss about ISS Project
--------------------------------------------------------------------

On December 6th, 2002, Space agency leaders from the United States,
Europe, Canada, Japan and Russia met in Tokyo International Exchange
Center in Tokyo, Japan for Head of Agency Meeting (HOA). The meeting
was held to discuss about the future cooperation for the ISS project.
In this meeting, chairman (Deputy Administrator Gregory from NASA) of
the Multilateral Coordination Board (MCB) reported the result of the
option path review and international coordination for ISS Project.
The participants endorsed the option path to maximize the ISS
utilization in the 2006/2007 timeframe by increasing the number of the 
permanent crews, which will be supported by additional Soyuz
spacecraft and the eventual addition of proposed U.S. Orbital Space
Plane in addition to Soyuz. They also agreed on a process (the Action
Plan) for selecting an ISS configuration, which will be discussed and
agreed by December 2003. 


The meeting produced the following joint statement.

Joint statement - International Space Station Heads of Agency meeting

12 December, 2002

(continued)

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