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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 Missile Defense Agency.
The test took place in December at the National Hover Test Facility, a unique test site high atop the granite ridge at Edwards Air Force Base that houses the Air Force Research Laboratory Propulsion Directorate.
Much more than a high-tech test site, the National Hover Test Facility is home to the rocket scientists who provide the expertise necessary for safely and effectively testing such gizmos.
Built some 20 years ago as part of the Ronald Reagan administration's Strategic Defense Initiative - popularly known as "Star Wars" - the facility has since been used for 22 static and hover tests to date.
The scientists, engineers and technicians who work there are skilled in the rocket propulsion systems, toxic propellant handling and system integration used with these kinds of rocket-powered vehicles, said Michael T. Huggins, site director of the Air Force Research Laboratory Propulsion Directorate.
The hover test facility co-exists with the rest of the AFRL staff, providing the flexibility of moving teams of engineers and scientists between the different areas as needed.
"We were able to provide (the Missile Defense Agency) an economical solution" for expert testing on an as-needed basis, Huggins said.
The cross-training with the rest of research lab provides the means of maintaining the necessary knowledge base for the hover testing.
The most recent system to be tested, the new weapon is intended to defend against ballistic missiles equipped with multiple warheads or countermeasures, using a single interceptor missile.
Individual kinetic interceptors - the kill vehicles - are mounted around a central "mother ship," which provides control to the individual kill vehicles once they are released.
These individual kill vehicles are then guided to the multiple warheads or countermeasures to destroy them.
"Our job here is to qualify that system," including the propulsion, guidance and sensor systems, Huggins said.
The hover test very closely simulates the dynamics of the kill vehicle zeroing in on its target in space, said Maj. David Meyer, the National Hover Test Facility director.
"This test was key in development of this entire system," bringing together the sensors, directional control and avionics, Meyer said.
The costs of testing on the ground are significantly less - about $10 to $20 million vs. $100 million for test in space using a rocket booster to launch it, Huggins said.
The test facility includes a hangar-like building with a bay for conducting the tests measuring roughly 70 feet tall and 110 feet long, with the associated control and preparation rooms.
Most of the space in the bay is contained in a cube of cargo netting reinforced with steel cables. The netting provides a means of containing the test vehicles and collecting them safely when the test ends.
The room is painted a matte black to prevent interference to the targeting sensors, test director Olivia Beal said.
A telemetry system transmits the test data to the control room, where real-time video monitors provide controllers a view of the test.
"Otherwise, it is just a big hangar with a giant net inside," Beal said.
Measuring about five feet long and 32 inches in diameter and weighing in at about 500 pounds - "a flying water heater" - the weapons system is about twice the size of anything else the facility has tested in the past.
The center of gravity is important in tests of this type as the vehicle is balanced on the plume of flame from the thruster on the bottom of the vehicle, Beal said.
The facility team worked with the project team and the weapons system contractors, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, to prepare the site for the test.
Before preparations began for the testing, the facility had been dormant for about three years, between 2003 and 2006, Huggins said.
Almost two years of preparation led up to the one-shot, 22-second final test - the vehicle is designed to be expendable - "then about five minutes of sheer joy and screaming," he said.
The vehicle lifted about 23 feet off the ground while remaining steady atop its pulsing engine and tracking four different target points, without a controller in the loop.
The facility is in line for at least one more test project, he said.
The Missile Defense Agency has a road map for additional developmental programs running for the next four to six years. Among the projects on the list is a test of the individual kill vehicles, as each will have to be able to hover and track target, Meyer said.