Transonic Dynamic Instability of Blunt-nosed Recovery Vehicle validated by Actual Reentry Flight
- Paper number
IAC-05-D2.3.04
- Author
Dr. Koju Hiraki, Kyushu Institute of Technology, Japan
- Coauthor
Mr. Seiji Matsuda, IHI Aerospace Co, Ltd., Japan
- Coauthor
Dr. Takashi Abe, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Japan
- Year
2005
- Abstract
Most of reentry capsules are primarily bluff bodies to achieve higher drag coefficient. Such a body with low ballistic coefficient, however, is known to suffer from violent oscillation, especially in transonic range. The violent oscillation may cause failure of a parachute deployment, which might result in a total failure of the mission. In the development of the Recovery Vehicle of the Unmanned Space Experiment Recovery System (USERS), careful attention was paid to this aerodynamically dynamic instability. Basically, the dynamic characteristics were investigated by a series of the wind-tunnel experiments. According to them, the vehicle was dynamically stable for the broad range from low subsonic to hypersonic except for the vicinity of Mach 1.0. Even at Mach 1.0 it showed the subtle instability, therefore, it was concluded that the this weak instability would not cause any problem at all. The Recovery Vehicle of USERS made the reentry flight on May 30th, 2003, and it was successfully recovered at the Pacific Ocean, east of the Ogasawara Island. During this reentry flight, it recorded the limited but valuable data concerning the deceleration and the attitude. From the coarse data the slight increase of the angle of attack was recognized.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-05-D2.3.04.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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