Composite structures on the DC-XA Reusable Launch Vehicle

In August 993, under the sponsorship of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO), McDonnell Douglas Aerospace (MDA) flew the first fully reusable rocket, the DC-X. It was a suborbital vehicle built primarily to demonstrate vertical take-off and vertical landing and the associated rapid, efficient, low cost operations achievable with this concept. Although significant portions of the DC-X were constructed using advanced composites, the vehicle was not intended to demonstrate the widespread use ofthese lightweight materials throughout the structure, a necessary feature of an orbital reusable rocket. The aeroshell, base heat shield, and control system pressure vessels were the only composite parts. Subsequently, the DC-X was incorporated into NASA's Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) program and has been rebuilt in a configuration called DC-XA, that flew for the first time on May 18, 1996. DC-XA is the first step in the development of an RLV that does incorporate lightweight structures throughout. DC-XA features (in addition to the original composite parts) an all-composite unlined liquid hydrogen tank, a composite intertank, an aluminum-lithium (Al-Li) liquid oxygen tank, and a composite liquid hydrogen feed line and valve. The development of these components is presented.