A Rans S-12 remotely piloted "mothership" takes off from a lakebed runway carrying a Spacewedge research model during 1992 flight tests. The Spacewedge was lauched in flight from the Rans S-12 aircraft and then glided back to a landing under a steerable parafoil. Technology tested in the Spacewedge program was used in developing the X-38 research vehicle. From October 1991 to December 1996, NASA Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility (after 1994, the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California) conducted a research program know as the Spacecraft Autoland Project. This Project was designed to determine the feasibility of the autonomous recovery of a spacecraft using a ram-air parafoil system for the final stages of flight, including a precision landing. The Johnson Space Center and the U.S. Army participated in various phases of the program. The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory developed the software for Wedge 3 under contract to the Army. Four generic spacecraft (each called a Spacewedge or simply a Wedge) were built; the last one was built to test the feasibility of a parafoil for delivering Army cargoes. Technology developed during this program has applications for future spacecraft recovery systems, such as the X-38 Crew Return Vehicle demonstrator. The Spacewedge program demonstrated precision flare and landing into the wind at a predetermined location. The program showed that a flexible, deployable system using autonomous navigation and landing was a viable and practical way to recover spacecraft. NASA researchers conducted flight tests of the Spacewedge at three sites near Dryden, a hillside near Tehachapi, the Rogers Dry Lakebed at Edwards Air Force Base, and the California City Airport Drop Zone. During the first phase of testing 36 flights were made. Phase II consisted of 45 flights using a smaller parafoil. A third Phase of 34 flights was conducted primarily by the Army and resulted in the development of an Army guidance system for precision offset cargo delivery. The wedge used during the Army phase was not called a Spacewedge but simply a Wedge. The Spacewedge was a flattened biconical airframe joined to a ram-air parafoil with a custom harness. In the manual control mode, the vehicle was flown using a radio uplink. In its autonomous mode, it was controlled using a small computer that received input from onboard sensors. Selected sensor data was recorded onto several onboard data loggers. Two Spacewedge shapes were used for four airframes representing generic hypersonic vehicle configurations. Spacewedge vehicles were 48 inches long, 30 inches wide, and 21 inches high. Their basic weight was 120 pounds, although different configurations weighed from 127 to 184 pounds. Potential uses for Spacewedge-based technology include deployable, precision, autonomous landing systems, such as the one deployed by the X-38 crew return vehicle; planetary probes; booster recovery systems; autonomous gliding parachute systems on military aircraft ejection seats; offset delivery of military cargoes; and delivery of humanitarian aid to hard-to-reach locations. Dryden employees involved with the Spacewedge program included R. Dale Reed, who originated the concept of conducting a subscale flight test at Dryden and participated in the actual testing. Alexander Sim managed the flight project and participated in its documentation. James Murray served as the principal Dryden investigator and as the lead for all systems integration for Phases I and II (the Spacewedge phases).
