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PALMDALE - The next step in hypersonic flight test is under development in a hangar at The Boeing Co.'s facility at Air Force Plant 42. The unmanned X-51A "Wave­Rider" is a scramjet engine flight demonstrator, expected to provide flight test data at speeds beyond Mach 6 - about one mile per second - using its unique engine design. In a scramjet - or supersonic combustion ramjet - engine, air is scooped into the engine duct, then forced through a combustion chamber, where fuel is mixed in and ignited. This produces energy, which is forced out the rear of the engine...

EDWARDS AFB - A veteran Lockheed Martin pilot was killed Wednesday when an F-22A fighter jet on a test mission from Edwards Air Force Base crashed near a desert gunnery range 35 miles northeast of Edwards. David Cooley, 49, of Lancaster, a Gulf War veteran who had been a Lockheed Martin test pilot since 2003 and before that spent 21 years in the Air Force, was taken by rescue crews to Victor Valley Community Hospital in Victorville, where he was pronounced dead. Cooley's death was Edwards' first in a test flight in eight years. "This is a very difficult day...

A fascinating mix of start-ups and success-stories are flying out of the Mojave Air And Space Port. Enterprising pioneers Burt Rutan, Dave Masten, Rick Searfoss and others share their enthusiasm for Mojave.

While national home sales plummeted to their worst levels in 12 years, the Antelope Valley bucked the trend and saw its numbers soar well into triple-digit gains. High desert home sales began the new year with a sizzling start, rising 238% in January over January 2008, while the nation as a whole saw its home sales drop 8.6%. For the nation, it was the weakest sales showing since July 1997. "It's location, location, location - to put it in the simplest terms," Sam Hare, a past president of the Greater Antelope Valley Association of Realtors, said of the difference between...

EDWARDS AFB - The base that first broke the sound barrier is once again pushing the boundaries of flight test, this time with sustained flight at hypersonic speeds. The Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base is responsible for the upcoming flight test of the X-51, a vehicle designed to travel at speeds greater than five times the speed of sound. The project takes on special meaning as no hypersonic project has made it to the flight test phase in a number of years, he said. The last one - also from Edwards - was NASA's X-43A,...

EDWARDS AFB - After a two-year hiatus, the Edwards Air Force Base Open House and Air Show returns this fall. The popular event will return in a two-day format on Oct. 17 and 18. Base officials decided against having the event the past two years while the main base runway was undergoing reconstruction. The open house and air show typically takes place in October and is one chance for the base - home to the world's premier flight test center - to open its gates to the general public and demonstrate its strengths and role in military testing and flight...

PALMDALE - Employment at Air Force Plant 42 picked up during the last six months of 2008, thanks primarily to hiring at Northrop Grumman Corp. That hiring trend is expected to continue as the company ramps up development of the Navy's unmanned demonstrator aircraft, the X-47B, and production of the F-35 joint strike fighter. "We did hit our staffing target last year; however, we're still looking to add another 500 people by the end of the year," Northrop spokesman Jim Hart said. The Air Force production flight test facility reported employment of 7,039 at the various contractor sites, up from...

LANCASTER [California] - In "The Wizard of Oz," the Tin Man sought a heart from the wizard. Lancaster High School's Tin Man already has dozens, however. The 43 members of the Eagle Robotics team, together with many more advisers, mentors and parents, demonstrate that it takes more than brains and courage to build a successful program shaping the leaders of tomorrow. It takes a lot of heart, too. The Tin Man, the team's most recent robotic creation that was unveiled to the public Thursday, is only one physical manifestation of the team's prodigious efforts. The wider effects are seen throughout...

MOJAVE - The Mojave Air and Space Port is positioning itself to receive any construction funds from a proposed federal economic stimulus package. "If they're going to throw money around, maybe we can get some," General Manager Stu Witt told the East Kern Airport District directors during their Feb. 3 meeting. The airport regularly prepares "shovel-ready" construction projects in order to take advantage of additional federal grant funds sometimes available at the end of each fiscal year. This preparation may pay off should stimulus funding come available. One project the airport has requested for several years is to construct a...

MOJAVE - The Mojave Air and Space Port's singular development planning process will be the subject of a new promotional video intended to aid prospective tenants. A $10,000 contract to produce the video was approved by the East Kern Airport District directors Tuesday on a 4-1 vote, with director Dick Rutan dissenting. The district has a precise development plan, approved by Kern County, which governs future development at the airport. By applying this plan, developers can bypass the often lengthy process of applying through the Kern County Planning Department. In effect, the airport district is its own planning department, providing...

EDWARDS AFB - Within a darkened chamber, a small, cylindrical contraption suddenly shoots aloft on a pulsing plume of flame, hovering in the air while smaller flames shoot from the cylinder's sides and send it sideways. In seconds, the flames burn out and the device falls to a bouncy landing on the netting below. The video clip looks as though it could be a rough cut of a science fiction film, but in reality it is a recent test of the Multiple Kill Vehicle-L, one of the latest weapons intended to defend against ballistic missile attack under development for the...

supersonic aircraft is nearing completion at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. The project uses the center's unique, modified F-15B to gauge the effects of changing the lift surfaces and engine nozzles on the shock waves created in supersonic flight. It is these shock waves that create the signature sonic booms heard on the ground when a supersonic airplane flies overhead. Supersonic jets are prevented by law from flying over land, except in specially designated corridors, due to the discomfort and noise of the resultant sonic booms. Quieting these sonic booms could lead to supersonic aircraft that may fly cross-country and...

PALMDALE - They may not be rose-covered, but they will certainly be attractions during Thursday's Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl. Twin B-2 stealth bombers arrived Tuesday in Palmdale from their home at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri in preparation for their featured roles in the New Year's Day festivities. One bomber will fly over Colorado Boulevard to open the morning's parade, while the second will punctuate the National Anthem before the start of the football game that afternoon. The batwing bombers are enjoying a homecoming of sorts, making Northrop Grumman Corp.'s facility at Air Force Plant...

From the nation's first jet aircraft to the first to break the sound barrier; from the first spacecraft to make a runway landing to the first privately funded spacecraft to rocket out of the atmosphere, the region's aerospace legacy tells the story of the Jet Age and the Space Age. The Valley's long tradition of striving to extend the cutting edge of aerospace continues today, from the defense industry giants at Air Force Plant 42 to the heirs of the "Right Stuff" pilots at Edwards Air Force Base to the paradigm-busting space entrepreneurs at Mojave Air and Space Port. With...

When the California Space Authority annually honors those within the state who have contributed to space enterprise during the past year, the Antelope Valley is sure to make an appearance. This year was no different, as awards were presented to two area entities during the ceremonies on Nov. 19 in Los Angeles. The Antelope Valley Board of Trade was honored for its efforts in the Business Development and Retention category, while Mojave-based The Spaceship Co. won the award for Commercial Space endeavors. "The greater Antelope Valley is integral to the California space enterprise community," said Eric Daniels, CSA's director of...

EDWARDS AFB - The students at the Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base have a new tool in their educational efforts, one that can benefit the Air Force and research institutions as well. The Reconfigurable Airborne Sensor, Communication and Laser - or RASCAL - pod provides a means of easily installing new instruments and technologies on board aircraft for flight testing. The pod, with the test instrumentation installed inside, attaches beneath the wing of an F-16 or other aircraft using the same connections for exterior weapons such as missiles. This standard connection provides versatility and ease...

EDWARDS AFB - Forty years ago NASA pilot Bill Dana made the final flight of the X-15, marking the end of the line for what many consider to be the most successful research airplane in history. How the program team responded to this adversity provides lessons for today's research and space exploration efforts, author Dennis Jenkins said Friday. Jenkins, author of "X-15: Extending the Frontiers of Flight," NASA's definitive history of the program, discussed the trials and triumphs of the X-15 at Dryden Flight Research Center before an appreciative crowd that included many of the program's original participants. The event...

EDWARDS AFB - The brief yet productive visit here by the nation's newest fighter is but a taste of things to come as the Air Force Flight Test Center prepares to host the F-35 Lightning II flight test program. The first F-35 test aircraft, dubbed AA-1, arrived at Edwards on Oct. 1 following the model's first cross-country flight from the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics production facility in Fort Worth. After three weeks of successful flight tests, it is scheduled to return to Texas today . The F-35 will be a major program for the Antelope Valley, employing hundreds of people in...

MOJAVE - Following multiple flights by XCOR Aerospace's rocket-powered airplane last week, the Mojave Air and Space Port now holds the unofficial record of more than half the manned rocket-powered vehicle flights in the 21st century. Following the XCOR flights, the facility has accounted for some 59 manned, rocket-powered vehicle flights, suborbital and orbital, or 51.3% of such flights worldwide since Jan. 1, 2001. The worldwide total includes 22 space shuttle flights from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and 15 launches from Russia's Kazakhstan-located facilities, Baikonur, according to company officials. Mojave's total includes SpaceShipOne's three suborbital flights in 2004...

PALMDALE - NASA's DC-8 flying laboratory captured a unique light show recently, as scientists used the aerial platform to study the disintegration of a spacecraft as it re-entered Earth's atmosphere from orbit. The European Space Agency's "Jules Verne" automated transfer vehicle, the first of a planned series of autonomous spacecraft designed to resupply and re-boost the international space station, returned early Sept. 29 at the conclusion of its six-month maiden mission. The European agency teamed up with NASA to take advantage of the unique opportunity provided by the planned re-entry to study how objects disintegrate and burn up when encountering...