NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, the U.S. Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC), and Blacksky Corporation joined forces on the prairie lands of West Texas to fly scale versions of aerospike rocket motors.
<p>The effort, called the Dryden Aerospike Rocket Test, provided the first known data from a solid-fueled aerospike rocket in flight.
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Two 10-ft. long solid-fueled rockets with aerospike nozzles were flown successfully on two consecutive flights March 30 and 31, 2004. The flights took place at the King Ranch launch site at the Pecos County Aerospace Development Corporation Flight Test Range in Fort Stockton, Texas.
NASA/DFRC/Steve Thomas
2004-03-30
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