This month´s cover ...

NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, working with contractors and the USAF Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB, California, USA, successfully tested an aerospike rocket at the Pecos (Texas) County Aerospace Development Test Range on March 30-31, 2004. This test provided the first known data from a solid-fueled aerospike rocket in flight. Aerospike nozzles can be thought of as being inside-out. Rather than the plume exiting from a bell-shaped nozzle, the plume is external, allowing atmospheric and air stream pressures to keep the plume at optimum settings for the entire trajectory. This allows very efficient engine performance throughout the flight. Upper Left: Chuck Rogers, Trong Bui (NASA Principle Investigator), and Scott Bartel making pre-flight checks. (NASA photo by Carla Thomas.) Lower left: Closeup of a Casaroni Technology, Inc., (Ontario, Canada) aerospike nozzle on a Blacksky Corp. (Carlsbad, California) rocket. (NASA photo by Carla Thornas.) Launch on March 30,2004. A speed of Mach 1.5 and an altitude of 26,000+ feet were achieved. (NASA photo by Steve Thomas.)