X-33 Aerospike Engine News Conference Dec. 13

Jim Cast

Headquarters, Washington, DC

(Phone: 202/358-1779)

Dom Amatore

Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL

(Phone: 256/544-0031)

Paul Foerman

Stennis Space Center, MS

(Phone: 288/688-1880)

Dan Beck

Boeing Rocketdyne, Canoga Park, CA

(Phone: 818/586-4572)

NOTE TO EDITORS: N00-060

Program managers for the project designed to propel the X-33
into high-speed, suborbital flight will meet with reporters next
week to discuss tandem test-firings of the linear Aerospike,
NASA’s radical new rocket engine.

The briefing is set for 11 a.m. EST, Wednesday, Dec. 13, at NASA’s
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL.

Early next year will see the first of at least nine tests of two
clustered Aerospikes mounted together on a rocket stand.

Participants in the one-hour news conference are expected to be:

* Gene Austin, NASA X-33 Program Manager, Marshall

* Cleon Lacefield, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company Vice
President for X-33, Palmdale, CA

* Don Chenevert, NASA X-33 Program Manager, Aerospike Engine
Testing, Stennis Space Center, MS

* Mike McKeon, X-33 Aerospike Engine Program Manager, Rocketdyne
Propulsion and Power, The Boeing Company, Canoga Park, CA

What makes the linear Aerospike engine unique is the shape of its
nozzle. Unlike conventional rocket engines that use a bell nozzle
to constrict and direct expanding gases, the linear Aerospike
nozzle is V-shaped and called a ramp.

NASA Centers will provide two-way question-and-answer capability
though NASA Television for accredited news media. NASA TV is on
GE-2, transponder 9C, located at 85 degrees West longitude, with
vertical polarization. Frequency will be on 3880.0 MHz, with
audio on 6.8 MHz.