AERODYNAMIC CONFIGURATION ANALYSIS FOR A RETRIEVABLE ORBITAL VEHICLE
- Paper number
IAC-08.C2.7.9
- Author
Dr. Paulo Moraes Jr., CTA/ Institute of Aeronautics and Space, Brazil
- Coauthor
Mr. Danton J. F. Villas Boas, CTA-IAE, Brazil
- Coauthor
Mr. Odilon Costa Franco Jr., Institute of Aeronautics and Space/ CTA, Brazil
- Year
2008
- Abstract
Orbital retrievable space vehicles go through a wide range of velocities ranging from hypersonic up to low subsonic during the re-entry flight, crossing low and high densities layers of the Earth atmosphere. Although drag varies substantially during this flight phase, an aerodynamic characteristic that plays a fundamental role is the static stability of the vehicle. Taking in consideration non-controlled or passively stabilizing vehicles, the question becomes critical because only specific portions of the vehicles surface are protected against high heating rates. Normally only the nose cap of the vehicle, looking for a sphere-cone-cylinder configuration, is prepared to support heat fluxes higher than 2 MW/m2, which means, that the vehicle should preferably fly with the nose cap aligned with the vector velocity. The configuration under consideration is mainly built by a sphere segment, followed by a conical and finally a cylinder segment. The analysis considers the compilation of aerodynamic data for normal/lateral force, pitch moment and center of pressure with variation of geometrical data for Mach numbers ranging from subsonic up to hypersonic. With the aim to increase the stability of the vehicle some studies have been performed with the addition of conical elements (flare), fins, and other devices in order to increase the static margin of the vehicle. The paper summarizes the results obtained within this study and bring some recommendations which could be useful in the design of small retrievable space vehicles.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-08.C2.7.9.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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