This computer-generated image depicts the current design concept of the Apex high-altitude research aircraft being developed by Advanced Soaring Concepts (ASC) for NASA's Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology program, based at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The Apex High-Altitude Flight Experiment is expected to explore the aerodynamics of controlled flight at very high altitudes near 100,000 feet. The Apex will be hoisted aloft tail-first from Dryden by a large high-altitude balloon and released at about 110,000-feet altitude. As it gradually descends, its instrumentation will collect aerodynamic data. The remotely-piloted, semi-autonomous Apex will combine a modified ASC sailplane fuselage design with a new wing designed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The wing will have a special airfoil designed for high subsonic speeds at extreme altitudes. A device extending behind the right wing is a "wake rake," which will measure aerodynamic drag behind a test section of the wing, while a rocket pack mounted beneath the fuselage will assist the Apex in transitioning to horizontal flight. Research flights were expected to begin in mid-1998, but a series of technical problems delayed them. In the spring of 1999, Apex entered mothball status. This continued for a year, and in the spring of 2000 NASA selected Apex as part of phase 1 of the Revolutionary Concepts effort.
