ALFLEX (Automatic Landing Flight EXperiment) was an experimental unmanned aircraft created by
NASDA
The , or NASDA, was a Japanese national space agency established on October 1, 1969 under the National Space Development Agency Law only for peaceful purposes. Based on the Space Development Program enacted by the Minister of Education, Culture, ...
and
NAL
NAL or Nal may refer to:
In organizations:
* Nal Sarovar Bird Sanctuary, in India
* National Aerospace Laboratories, India
* National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan
* National Alliance of Liberals, a political party in Ghana
* United States Nat ...
, the predecessors of
JAXA
The is the Japanese national air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satellites into orb ...
, in 1996. It was built as a successor to
HYFLEX
HYFLEX (Hypersonic Flight Experiment) was a National Space Development Agency of Japan reentry demonstrator prototype which was launched in 1996 on the only flight of the J-I launcher. It was a successor of OREX and was a precursor for the Japan ...
as part of the
HOPE
Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large.
As a verb, its definitions include: "expect with confidence" and "to cherish ...
program.
ALFLEX was built to establish the basic technology of automatic landing. The design featured a streamlined metal hull,
delta
Delta commonly refers to:
* Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet
* River delta, at a river mouth
* D ( NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta")
* Delta Air Lines, US
* Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19
Delta may also ...
planiform wings, and large
winglets
Wingtip devices are intended to improve the efficiency of fixed-wing aircraft by reducing drag. Although there are several types of wing tip devices which function in different manners, their intended effect is always to reduce an aircraft' ...
. Despite being a project of Japanese aerospace agencies, ALFLEX never left the atmosphere. Instead, it was carried up to a high altitude by a
helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
, then
released to automatically glide down to the designated landing site, navigating by means of
onboard computers
This list of ship directions provides succinct definitions for terms applying to spatial orientation in a marine environment or location on a vessel, such as ''fore'', ''aft'', ''astern'', ''aboard'', or ''topside''.
Terms
* Abaft (preposition ...
. ALFLEX completed thirteen drop tests from July to August 1996, all of which were successful.
Specifications (ALFLEX)
* Length (without pitot boom): 6.10 m
* Wingspan: 3.78 m
* Height (without gear): 1.35 m
See also
*
HOPE-X
HOPE (H-II Orbiting Plane) was a Japanese experimental spaceplane project designed by a partnership between NASDA and NAL (both now part of JAXA), started in the 1980s. It was positioned for most of its lifetime as one of the main Japanese contri ...
*
HYFLEX
HYFLEX (Hypersonic Flight Experiment) was a National Space Development Agency of Japan reentry demonstrator prototype which was launched in 1996 on the only flight of the J-I launcher. It was a successor of OREX and was a precursor for the Japan ...
*
OREX
OREX (Orbital Re-entry Experiment) was a NASDA re-entry demonstrator prototype which was launched in 1994 on the H-II launcher; the satellite was renamed . It was a precursor for the Japanese space shuttle HOPE.
OREX tested various communication ...
References
# http://global.jaxa.jp
# http://www.jaxa.jp/
Article title
External links
Experimental aircraft
Unmanned aerial vehicles of Japan
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