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Details of The X-38 small boat

The station spaces them ISS soon will be equipped of a lifeboat that, in emergency case, will bring back incolumi the astronauts on the Earth. Not draft of one normal spaceship, its coded name is X-38. Much similar one to the famous Shuttle, but with a more aerodynamic line entire will be controlled and piloted from a computer.

The X-38, tested in California to the "Dryden Flight Research Center" of NASA, comes controlled from VxWorks, the operating system of Wind River used also from Sony, Cisco and Siemens, until Rockwell and Raytheon. For the astronauts he will be sufficient to go up to edge, to close the shop and to press the key "Go". The small boat will be come unhooked from the station spaces will ignite them the motors and it will head automatically towards house.

"the X-38 must from before being able to fly as small boat spaces them - has commented John Mason, project manager for the X-38 to NASA - once in the atmosphere, like an airplane, then to unfold a parachute and to glide down like a parachutist. The fact to fly with different modalities involves that all the various programmed activities must be executed to regular rhythms and in way much express is for this reason that the operating system is of fundamental importance ".

In order to test the new aircraft it spaces them NASA has used of a B-52 bomber that carried to quota 12 mila meters has uncoupled it. Once independent the X-38 has been activated and directed automatically towards "Edwards AFB", one ship of military navy American. "Beyond controlling every aspect of the flight of the X-38, the operating system VxWorks is responsible also of all the relative functions of support to the communication and the phase of rescue".